Soul star Patti Labelle has been accused of hurling verbal abuse at a woman and her young child in a new lawsuit.
Roseanna Monk claims the singer took issue with her for letting her toddler daughter Genevieve loose in the lobby of an apartment building in New York last November (10).
LaBelle, who was starring in Broadway musical Fela! at the time of the reported incident, is said to have thrown water from a bottle at Monk before allegedly hurling abuse at her.
Monk and her husband Kevin subsequently filed a complaint with police but no arrests were made - and now they have launched a lawsuit over the drama after LaBelle allegedly refused to apologise.
In the papers, filed at Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday (14Nov11), the couple is seeking unspecified damages, according to the Associated Press.
Their lawyer, Samuel L. Davis, says the Monks feel "someone's got to teach her even a diva can't attack and frighten... regular people in the building".
It is the latest legal drama for LaBelle - earlier this year (11), she was sued by a U.S. cadet, Richard King, who accused the star's bodyguard and hairdresser of attacking him at Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas.
The Lady Marmalade hitmaker subsequently filed a countersuit against King.