Spice Girls' legal dispute with scooter maker spices up

LONDON (AP) -- The Spice Girls, taking their dispute with an Italian scooter maker to the Court of Appeal, denied that they knew of Geri Halliwell's imminent departure when they signed an endorsement deal.

The pop group had sued Aprilia for $316,000 in unpaid fees from the company's $835,000 sponsorship deal for a 1998 world tour.

But High Court Justice Mary Arden dismissed that claim in February 2000 and ordered the Spice Girls to pay the company's legal bills.

Relations between the group and the Italian company turned sour after the sudden departure of "Ginger Spice" in May 1998, just a month after the deal was signed.

As part of its tour promotion, Aprilia made a Spice Sonic scooter with a silhouette of all five members on it. That product flopped when Halliwell left the group.

Attorneys for the group argued that Halliwell had said she would not be leaving until the end of an American tour in September that year, but changed her mind.