Kevin Hart sued over cancelled party appearance

Kevin Hart has been hit with a lawsuit after allegedly bailing on a 2018 party appearance.

AIM Hospitality Group LLC officials and its managing partner Maksim Vladimirskiy claim the Jumanji: The Next Level star signed up to appear at an event after-party in New York in July, 2018, following Hart's stand-up gig in New Jersey that evening.

Hart was allegedly given a $10,000 (£7,300) advance before the bash, for which he was to be paid a total of $26,000 (£19,000).

In exchange, the funnyman was required to share two Instagram posts to promote the party, but in the months leading up to the gig, no such ads appeared, according to court papers filed on Wednesday and obtained by the New York Post's Page Six.

AIM officials soon realised Hart had "no intention of honoring" the social media contract, and just weeks before the after-party, they requested the return of their deposit, despite having already spent $12,000 (£8,800) to spread the word about the bash.

Hart apparently agreed, but by 2019, they had still not received the refund, which they were subsequently told had been sent to the wrong people. They also reportedly learned Hart's team had actually cancelled plans to attend the event in May - but failed to alert AIM bosses of their decision.

Now Vladimirskiy is suing for damages, arguing that Hart's employees "willfully disregarded their contractual obligations by using delay tactics and making false promises to perform".

"Defendants recklessly issued a refund to the wrong party and without any attempt to fix the careless error made excuses for their own mismanagement of accounts," continues the suit, which lists Hart, his agent, and officials at two of his companies as defendants.

AIM attorneys are demanding a total of $390,000 (£285,400) in damages.

Hart's representatives have yet to comment on the lawsuit.