Priscilla Presley has won the first round in an elder abuse lawsuit she filed against her old business associates.On Thursday (April 3), a Los Angeles County judge sided with the former wife of Elvis Presley and ruled that California was the best venue to hear the lawsuit, which claims her ex-associates had conned her out of over $1million.The complaint, filed last July, accused Florida-based memorabilia auctioneer Brigitte Kruse as well as Kevin Fialko, Vahe Sislyan and Lynn Walker Wright of crookedly convincing her to give them power over her and then abusing that control in efforts to steal her money.The case will now proceed with its next hearing in a few weeks.Per Rolling Stone, Judge Mark H. Epstein dismissed the argument by Kruse, Kruse’s husband, and Fialko, who said that Presley’s elder abuse claims against them should be placed on hold while they pursue a separate breach of contract lawsuit against her in Florida.The defendants argued that fighting a lawsuit in California while simultaneously pursuing their previously filed claims against Presley in Florida would be “extraordinarily inconvenient.”Epstein said he considered the argument, “yet another in what seems to be a never-ending series of motions … to move this case out of California and into Florida.” He also rebuffed the claim that Presley signed contracts that agreed to litigate disputes in Florida.“This is not really a contract-based case at its heart; it is a fraud case,” Epstein wrote in his ruling.
