Court denies Cussler 'Sahara' appeal but reverses damages

By Matthew Belloni

A California Court of Appeal has torpedoed novelist Clive Cussler's latest attempt to recover money from the 2005 boxoffice bomb "Sahara." But the court also has taken away a $5 million award to Cussler's archnemesis, Philip Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment.

Here's the 27-page unpublished decision, issued today. Cussler has been feuding for years with Anshutz's Crusader (now Bristol Bay). In 2004, the popular novelist filed suit claiming up to $140 million in damages from Crusader breaching a licensing agreement and failing to properly include him in the development of the "Sahara" film.

Crusader then countersued, arguing that Cussler had hurt the film's boxoffice prospects by, among other things, telling his fans not to see it.

Judge revives Warren Beatty's 'Dick Tracy' lawsuit

By Eriq Gardner

The legal fight over rights to comic legend Dick Tracy is back on.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware lifted a stay yesterday that prevented actor Warren Beatty from suing Tribune Media Services over movie and television rights to the famous detective character. 

Beatty bought rights to Dick Tracy from Tribune in 1985 and later directed and starred in a Dick Tracy film. However, Tribune claimed that Beatty made no productive use of his rights for more than a decade, and under the rights agreement, this meant that they reverted back to Tribune, which originally published the comic in the 1930s. 

Last November, Beatty sued Tribune in California court, arguing that he was in the midst of producing a television special on Dick Tracy. The following month, Tribune declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, freezing claims by creditors. In March, Tribune claimed in bankruptcy court that Beatty had begun work on a TV special only to preserve his rights and that the property was worth potentially millions of dollars to its creditors.

Delaware bankruptcy judge Kevin Carey is now allowing both parties to pursue their claims.

The case may also be notable as a chance to see Bert Fields back in a courtroom. Fields is representing Beatty, one of his best friends.

Tom Cruise enrolls at Harvard Law (for an hour)

By Matthew Belloni

Tom Cruise has played idealistic lawyers in "A Few Good Men," "The Firm" and "Jerry Maguire." On Monday Cruise joined a classroom of bright-eyed and budding Esquires at Harvard Law School for a lecture from his actual attorney Bert Fields. According to the HLS newspaper, Cruise tagged along with Fields, who has repped the actor for years, because he had never heard Fields teach. The A-list Power Lawyer (HLS class of '52) was a guest of entertainment law professor Bruce Hay.  Needless to say, the students were a bit distracted by the celeb intrusion.

• "After quick, smiley glances in his direction, students resumed their normal classroom activities--they raised their hands and asked questions; they GChatted; they took notes; they browsed Net-a-Porter and Bergdorf Goodman. From time to time they would steal a sidelong look at the glowing actor.  He would sometimes lean over and share a quiet joke with the student sitting next to him, who, except for these moments, kept her eyes politely trained on her computer."

Cruise was apparently a diligent student, paying close attention to the details of the lecture. It makes sense. The actor has been involved in some of the more interesting entertainment litigation cases over the past few years, battling paparazzi and celebrity websites, especially over his involvement in the Church of Scientology.

• "Throughout his discussion, Fields would refer questions back to Tom, and Cruise would also interject his own experiences.  He spoke about tabloid magazines and issues concerning the propriety of celebrity images, working with directors such as the late Stanley Kubrick, and the business of how the rating on movies gets set in the U.S. as opposed to in Europe." 

By the end of the lecture, Cruise had drawn a crowd. The Harvard paper concludes that he might even have a second career ahead of him: "Cruise probably gave more time to HLS students than many professors are able to after class." 

Photo: Harvard Law Record

Harvey Weinstein reveals naked truth of 'Project Runway' settlement

By Eriq Gardner

So this is how high-profile legal spats get resolved. "Project Runway" producer Harvey Weinstein went on Ryan Seacrest's radio show and said the "Runway" settlement was put together with the help of, um, naked arm wrestling?...

Ryan Seacrest: So how did this get resolved? The backstory is NBC was upset last April when it found out that the Weinstein Company had accepted a deal with Lifetime, it says here. Then NBC execs believe they were still in negotiations to keep the show, which launched on Bravo. Then all of a sudden, it was resolved and then you were complimenting (NBC Universal CEO) Jeff Zucker in the press. 

Harvey Weinstein: Well, I will tell you the truth, and not many people know this, but this is a bombshell. We couldn't figure out a way to solve this with, you know, all these high-priced lawyers. We had David Boies and Bert Fields, these guys had Orin Snyder. These guys charge millions of dollars. And then (NBC Entertainment co-chairman) Ben Silverman said, 'Why don't Harvey and I arm-wrestle this...naked...(laughing and cross-chatter)...And Jeff Zucker was there. And the Lifetime people were there. And it went back and forth, back and forth, and it became a tie. And as a result of that tie with Ben, Jeff Zucker said, 'Let's give Lifetime a show, and we'll take some money from Harvey, and here we go."

Listen to the audio clip! 

Clive Cussler's shocking legal bill

By Eriq Gardner

Here's a shot across the bow of anyone who licenses the rights to a film and may wish to sue when things don't go as planned:

A Los Angeles Superior Court has ordered best-selling novelist Clive Cussler to pay $14 million in legal fees to Crusader Entertainment after litigating an unsuccessful lawsuit.

The case earned extraordinary attention a few years ago thanks to the mammoth box office flop of "Sahara," a 2005 film version of Cussler's novel that starred Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz and is estimated to have lost about $80 million at the box office after expenses.

Cussler was quite vocal about his displeasure about not having script approval and launched a claim against Crusader alleging that the film company breached the licensing agreement. In return, Crusader countersued, claiming that Cussler had hurt the film's box office prospects.

Two years ago, a jury returned a verdict that ordered Cussler to pay $5 million. Crusader wasn't satisfied with the judgment, claiming that lawyers had billed the company more than 35,000 hours. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shook seems to agree, ordering damages today more than $13.9 million.

According to some news outlets, the damage for Cussler could be even more significant, with reported legal fees to his own lawyer, Bert Fields, tagged at $8.5 million.

Total pain for Cussler? More than $27 million and counting. After all, Fields plans to appeal the decision for his client, which will probably cost more money. Few would have ever guessed that a controversy over script approval could ever get to be so expensive.

Paramount Didn't Make Mario Puzo's Family an Offer They Couldn't Refuse

Posted by Eriq Gardner

  The estate of "Godfather" author Puzo and the studio behind the three movies are going to war again — this time over royalties owed from a "Godfather" video game.

The Puzo estate, repped by THR, Esq.'s BFF Bert Fields, has filed a lawsuit on their behalf in Los Angeles Superior Court. Here's the complaint.

The two sides have stared each other down before. In 1992, a fee disagreement led to a new financial arrangement between the parties. According to the new complaint, the parties entered "into an agreement pursuant to which Puzo was to receive a significant share in the revenue of audio-visual products to be sold or rented to the public embodying elements of the 'Godfather' pictures."

In 2006, Paramount licensed the rights to a video game to video game publisher Electronic Arts. According to some estimates, the game has grossed revenues of $41 million.

Puzo died in 1999, leaving everything to his children. The estate says they haven't been paid properly by Paramount.

'Funny Face' Case Claims Ownership Of Dance Scene Is No Laughing Matter

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Who owns the copyright to the famous dance scene in the 1957 film "Funny Face"? (Here's a pretty good facsimile of it.)

According to the film's director, Stanley Donen, he does.

Represented by Bert Fields, Donen is suing Paramount and The Gap for using a clip of the dance in commercials that aired last year and photos of the scene in print advertisements. What makes this case so unusual is that Donen claims that he "never had a written contract with Paramount regarding 'Funny Face,' and has never conveyed to Paramount his interest in that film."

As strange as it may be that a director would have been hired without a contract, the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles goes on to acknowledge that Paramount registered the copyright in the entirety of "Funny Face," and that they have licensed the film for years to distributors without objection. Donen says "he makes no claim with respect to such distribution, which was intended when the film was made....(but) defendants have now exceeded the uses in which plaintiff acquiesced and plaintiff has strong objection to Paramount's selling the Dance Scene he created..."

   

The Pellicano Trial: Bert Fields Probably Won't Testify

Posted by Leslie Simmons

Bert Fields didn't take the stand yesterday as a witness in the government’s wiretapping and racketeering case against Anthony Pellicano and four others. Now we learn he probably won't be testifying at all.

Co-defendant Mark Arneson, a former LAPD sergeant, planned to call Fields, and the veteran entertainment attorney even showed up to court twice this week to take the stand. But he was never called, and today a spokesman for Fields said Arneson’s attorney decided not to call him after all. No explanation was given.

Fields could conceivably be called by one of the three remaining co-defendants who have yet to present their case, but the software engineer, the former phone company employee, and the Pellicano client who wasn't repped by Fields likely won't bother.

Retired FBI special agent Stanley Ornellas will resume his testimony tomorrow. Ornellas was the lead investigator in the case. The government claims Pellicano, Arneson and three others ran a criminal racket that included illegally wiretapping and running records searches on police computers for adversaries of clients.

The Pellicano Trial: Bert Still Chillin'

Posted by Eriq Gardner

The Pellicano trial was interesting yesterday only because of who and what were missing.

No Bert Fields, as the entertainment attorney cooled his heels in the cafeteria for a second consecutive day.

And less focus on Pellicano, as prosecutors returned from the break in action to grill co-defendant Mark Arneson again. The testimony got heated when the former LAPD officer claimed forgery on a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, prompting Asst. U.S. Attorney Daniel Saunders to suggest that Arneson was perjuring himself.

The Pellicano Trial: The Prosecution Rests

Posted by Eriq Gardner

The prosecution rested its case against accused wiretapper Anthony Pellicano, but not before delivering a huge surprise by dropping 28 counts against the defendants. Citing the unavailability of witnesses, the dropped charges involved allegations of wire fraud, identity theft and computer fraud.

But Pellicano and his associates shouldn't rest too easy. Still left on the table are 79 counts and if convicted, Pellicano will face a similar prison sentence as before.

Before wrapping up, the jury heard testimony from Sylvester Stallone's lawyer, Lawrence Nagler, who told jurors that Pellicano bugged Stallone's phone on behalf of Stallone's former business manager, Kenneth Starr, and his lawyer, Bert Fields. At the time, Stallone was suing Starr for mismanaging the actor's investment in Planet Hollywood. Nagler said Pellicano told him that "bad things" would happen if Sly didn't back off his $17 million suit.

Now it's the defendants' turn to save themselves. Who will they call to the stand? Roger Friedman of Fox News says the defense may call Fields. Why? To attribute the blame elsewhere?

"This would leave open the door for the cross-examination of all time by assistant District Attorney Dan Saunders," writes Friedman. "If he blows it, and doesn’t ask Fields the questions everyone’s been dying to hear, the whole case will seem like it was a fishing expedition for nothing."