Jimmy Choo founder files £5million law suit against estranged mother

Tamara Mellon, the British businesswoman and socialite who turned Jimmy Choo into a luxury shoe brand, filed a civil complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court against her mother and former Chanel model, Ann Yeardye, who lives in Beverly Hills.

Mellon's US lawyer, Bert Fields, said the lawsuit deals with the 2004 sale of Jimmy Choo, in which both Mellon and Yeardye held an interest through family trusts.

According to the complaint, Mellon received the majority of her share from the company stocks sale. Yeardye, meanwhile, who Fields said had never been involved in the business, received hers in cash. Mellon, however, says half the stocks that were meant for her were mistakenly transferred to her mother, who has repeatedly refused to return it, the lawsuit said.

The complaint seeks £5million in damages for breach of contract and related wrongdoing.

Mellon said in a statement that she had been forced to take legal action after trying other means to settle the dispute.

"I am baffled by my mother's refusal to return assets which rightfully do not belong to her," she said. Yeardye could not be reached for comment.

Mellon, a former editor at Vogue magazine, co-founded Jimmy Choo Ltd in London in 1996 and helped turn the pricey high-heeled shoes into must-have accessories on the hit TV show Sex And The City and on Hollywood red carpets.

The company was sold in November 2004 to Phoenix Equity Partners.

In February 2007, it was sold for the third time in six years, this time to a group led by private equity firm TowerBrook Capital at a value of £185million.

This is not the first court case Ms Mellon has had to deal with in the past 12 months.

She was involved in a case against City-based detectives AIS who were accused of being hired by her husband Matthew to spy on her and hack into her emails.

The American, who is heir to a £2million banking dynasty and with whom she has one daughter, was later acquitted of the charges against him after Ms Mellon took the stand.

When asked about logs of computer activity found in her ex-husband's home, she said there was "absolutely no way" he could have read or understood it, adding "Matthew cannot even read a comic let alone a legal document."

The pair remain close despite the court case, with Ms Mellon describing him as her "best friend".