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Don Johnson Awarded $23.2M In ‘Nash Bridges’ Lawsuit Against Rysher

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday July 7, 2010 @ 2:09pm PDTTags: Courts, Don Johnson, Law, Mark Cuban, Qualia Capital, Todd Wagner

donjohnson1Another hey-you-didn’t-pay-me-my-profits lawsuit. This time a Los Angeles jury sided with Don Johnson who was both the star and a producer on the 1990s crime series Nash Bridges. Johnson sued 3 entertainment companies in 2009, claiming he was owed millions in profits from the 1990s crime series by Rysher Entertainment, which contended the show had lost money despite 6 seasons on the air. The jury awarded Johnson $23.2M and determined that Johnson owned half of the copyright of the series. Rysher was bought by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner from 2001-2006, and then sold to Qualia Capital. Rysher’s attorney, Bart Williams of Munger, Tolles & Olson, reacted: “Rysher is extremely disappointed in today’s verdict and will aggressively pursue all legal recourse. While we respect the jury’s right to their judgment, there are several matters of law that will form the basis of Rysher’s appeal. We are ready to undergo the appeals process and are confident that in the end, today’s outcome will be reversed.”

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Lindsay Lohan To Serve 90 Days In Jail

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday July 6, 2010 @ 4:03pm PDTTags: Actors, Courts, Law, Lindsay Lohan
Mike Fleming

lindsay-lohanNormally, Deadline doesn’t cover the personal lives of Hollywood types, except under circumstances which affect their professional lives. But the Lindsay Lohan saga is worth mentioning because it gets sadder and sadder since she was a once-promising young actress. Lohan was sentenced today … Read More »

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YouTube Wins Viacom Copyright Lawsuit

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday June 23, 2010 @ 2:05pm PDTTags: Big Media, Courts, Google, Internet, Law, New Media, Regulation, Viacom, YouTube

UPDATE: In connection with the summary judgment ruling today in its litigation against Google and YouTube, Viacom Inc made the following statement:

viacom-youtube-logos“We believe that this ruling by the lower court is fundamentally flawed and contrary to the language

… Read More »

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Creator Slams ‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Lawsuit

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday June 16, 2010 @ 1:43pm PDTTags: Actors, Blogs, Cable, Law, TV
Nellie Andreeva

DBAGThe always refreshingly blunt Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter took to his blog this morning to respond to a $5 million lawsuit against FX filed by former Oz actor Chuck Zito, a self-proclaimed former leader of the NY chapter of … Read More »

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PAY UP OR PUT UP? UK Financiers Accuse Indie Film Watchdog Of Being “Toothless”

By TIM ADLER in London | Thursday June 10, 2010 @ 1:16am PDTTags: Distribution, Finance, Foreign, Indie, Law, Movies, Producers

Angry JudgeUK investors tell me that film distributors not paying sales agents money owed is putting the whole indieprod business at risk. The problem has gotten worse over the last couple of years as the movie market has tightened. All … Read More »

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Charlie Sheen’s Jail Time Won’t Impact ‘Men’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday June 1, 2010 @ 11:56am PDTTags: Actors, Courts, Law, TV
Nellie Andreeva

Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen will plead guilty and serve jail time over misdemeanor charges stemming from his Christmas Day arrest for alleged domestic violence, according to several sites, including People and TMZ. But the 30-day sentence, which is expected to be reduced to 15-17 days for … Read More »

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2ND UPDATE: Behind Ken Starr Indictment

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday May 27, 2010 @ 5:00pm PDTTags: Actors, Courts, Finance, Hollywood, Law
Mike Fleming

2ND UPDATE WRITE-THRU 1:30 PM: The indictment of financial advisor and accountant Kenneth Starr has the potential to be every bit as serious as the one that gripped Hollywood when Cassanda Group’s Dana Giacchetto fell from grace after defrauding some of Hollywood’s biggest names in the 1990s.

Starr was arrested along … Read More »

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UPDATE: Did Uma Thurman, Jim Wiatt And Bunny Mellon Help Flush Accused Investment Advisor Ken Starr?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday May 27, 2010 @ 2:02pm PDTTags: Actors, Courts, Finance, Hollywood, Law
Mike Fleming

UPDATED WRITE-THRU: The indictment of financial advisor and accountant Kenneth Starr has the potential to be every bit as serious as the one that gripped Hollywood when Cassanda Group’s Dana Giacchetto fell from grace after defrauding some of Hollywood’s biggest names in the 1990s.

Starr was arrested … Read More »

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SEC Bares Text of Inept Suspects As They Sold Disney Earnings Info To FBI Agents

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday May 26, 2010 @ 6:15pm PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Law, Regulation, Studios
Mike Fleming

UPDATE AT 6:15 PM: More details have surfaced in the shocking indictment of Bonnie Hoxie– the administrative assistant to Disney corporate communications head Zenia Mucha—and Hoxie’s boyfriend Yonni Sebbeg for allegedly trying to peddle an early quarterly report to hedge funds for cash payment. In the annals of insider trading, … Read More »

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UPDATE: Disney Denies Claims It Is Close to Selling ABC

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 26, 2010 @ 10:59am PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Law, Moguls, Networks, Studios
Nellie Andreeva

UPDATE 11 AM: The Walt Disney Co. just issued the following statement relating to the complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney on May 26 in New York:

The Walt Disney Company has been fully cooperating with this investigation. The reference in the complaint to conversations regarding the ABC Network were and

… Read More »

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WGAE Supports ‘Crude’ Docu Filmmaker

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 18, 2010 @ 2:12pm PDTTags: Courts, Directors, Documentaries, Journalism, Law, Movies, WGA
Mike Fleming

The Writer’s Guild East has come out on behalf of documentary director Joe Berlinger, who last week was ordered by a Federal Judge to give Chevron more than 600 hours of footage he compiled for the documentary Crude: The Real … Read More »

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Joel Silver Sues Goldman Sachs (And Can We Sue To Close His Crappy Dark Castle?)

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday May 17, 2010 @ 11:33pm PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Law, Producers, Studios, Wall Street

Goldman_Sachs_logoMost of the time, Hollywood is complaining about Joel Silver. Now the producer is complaining about Wall Street. Matthew Belloni scooped about the breach of contract and fraud lawsuit filed today in LA Superior Court by Silver against Goldman Sachs. It claims the investment bank … Read More »

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CANNES: David Bergstein Among The Yacht Crowd Doing Offshore Film Deals?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday May 17, 2010 @ 6:45am PDTTags: Actors, Film Festivals, Finance, Foreign, Law
Mike Fleming

cannes-yacht-charterTonight’s party thrown by Paul Allen on his yacht M.Y. Octopus puts the focus on the ships off the Croisette, and makes some wonder just who is doing business from these luxury  vessels? I’m told that among the seafarers is troubled … Read More »

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Warner Bros/DC Comics Sues ‘Superman’ Copyright Lawyer; Marc Toberoff Response

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday May 14, 2010 @ 12:45pm PDTTags: Comic Books, Courts, Law, Rights, Studios

BREAKING NEWS! 2ND UPDATE 12:40 PM: The subject of today’s Warner Bros/DC Comics lawsuit, Los Angeles copyright attorney Marc Toberoff, just gave me his response. (See below)

Original Post Filed 10:26 AM. Updated Writethru 11:30 AM:
superman comic 30Today there’s … Read More »

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UPDATE: Lionsgate Loses Poison Pill Appeal; What Defense Against Icahn Is Left?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday May 7, 2010 @ 11:54am PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Law, Moguls, Regulation, Studios

UPDATE: Drama, drama, drama! (And fast drama.) First, the British Columbia Court of Appeals today granted lionsgate_logoLionsgate’s request to reexamine the British Columbia Securities Commission’s decision to stop the studio from using a poison pill defense against Carl Icahn’s attempted hostile … Read More »

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Judge Calls Off Dogs On David Bergstein

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 4, 2010 @ 5:15pm PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Law, Producers, Studios
Mike Fleming

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge recalled the bench warrant he issued on David Bergstein after the embattled film financier showed up in a courtroom to address his unpaid casino markers worth nearly $1 million. Judge Matthew St. George issued the bench warrant after Bergstein sent his lawyer to handle … Read More »

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Polanski: “I Can Remain Silent No Longer!”

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday May 2, 2010 @ 4:41pm PDTTags: Courts, Directors, Law, Media

Film director Roman Polanski today broke his silence first the time about his Swiss arrest and pending extradition back to Los Angeles. He released this statement to the news media through his Paris friend and author Bernard-Henri Lévy, director of the French magazine La Règle du Jeu:

… Read More »

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Another Charlie Sheen Update: Both Sides ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About A Deal

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday May 2, 2010 @ 1:10pm PDTTags: Actors, Law, Networks, TV, TV Shows
Nellie Andreeva

Sources close to Charlie Sheen’s negotiations with Warner Bros. TV are “cautiously optimistic” that the charliesheen4two sides will be able to come to terms on a new deal that would keep the star on CBS’ hit Two and a Half Men … Read More »

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Lionsgate Appealing Decision That It Can’t Use Poison Pill Defense Against Carl Icahn

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday April 28, 2010 @ 7:10pm PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Law, Moguls, Studios

Poison-pillThat’s basically the long and short of it. Lionsgate today announced that it has filed an application with the British Columbia Court of Appeal for leave to appeal the British Columbia Securities Commission’s decision to stop the studio from using … Read More »

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