Entertainment Law - News and Media
July 2010
Johnson & Johnson, LLP, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

             

Neville  L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Douglas L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Johnson & Johnson, LLP

Neville L. Johnson, Founding Partner
Douglas L. Johnson, Founding Partner
Mathias D. Maciejewski
, Associate
Lan P. Vu, Associate
Erin L. Pfaff, Associate
James T. Ryan, Of Counsel

439 N. Canon Drive, Suite 200
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 975-1080

www.jjllplaw.com

Neville L. Johnson
njohnson@jjllplaw.com

Douglas L. Johnson
djohnson@jjllplaw.com

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Practice Areas       

Johnson & Johnson, LLP has garnered extensive
experience in the following areas: 
Entertainment Litigation

The firm’s lawyers are well known for handling numerous high profile and wide-reaching entertainment matters. We have represented actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, authors, personal managers, production companies, musicians, composers, publishers, and independent record companies.

 Complex Business Litigation

We represent companies and individuals in complex business litigation disputes. Representative matters include: partnership disputes, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, actions for breach of contract, unfair competition.

Class Action Litigation

The firm has litigated class actions involving unfair business practices, consumer protection, invasions of privacy and entertainment disputes.  

Intellectual Property Litigation

The lawyers at the firm specialize in copyright law, idea protection law, and trade secret law.

Defamation, Media, and First Amendment Law  

The firm has litigated many cases involving libel and slander.

Rights of Privacy and Publicity

The firm represents celebrities, models, professional athletes, and others in right of likeness/publicity cases. The lawyers of the firm specialize in rights of privacy and have handled hundreds of invasion of privacy cases, including handling the case that resulted in the ground-breaking decision by the California Supreme Court in Sanders v. ABC, Inc. 

 

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News and Media -  2010

 
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http://thresq.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/07/millionaire-aftermath-why-do-studios-keep-losing-lawsuits.html
'Millionaire' aftermath: Why do studios keep losing lawsuits?

Wed Jul 07, 2010
By Matthew Belloni

Perhaps studio execs should start volunteering for jury service.

Wednesday's $270 million verdict against the Walt Disney Co. over profits from "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is part of a trend that should have Hollywood heavyweights worried: Juries lately are skeptical of so-called "Hollywood accounting" -- and are not hesitant to award huge damages to creative types who cry foul.

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Consider the evidence: A Riverside, Calif., jury of five women and four men, none of whom work in entertainment, awarded $269.4 million in damages to "Millionaire" producer Celador after only three days of deliberations -- by far the largest jury award ever in a case alleging self-dealing among studio-owned entities. It unanimously endorsed Celador's argument that Disney-owned ABC and Buena Vista Television violated a complex deal to produce and distribute "Millionaire" in North America by brokering sweetheart deals that cheated the U.K.-based Celador out of its 50% participation in the show.

"All the testimony showed there would be a sharing of rewards," Celador lead trial attorney Roman Silberfeld said. "It became a huge success, but Disney changed the agreement. The jury roundly rejected that notion."

That rejection is becoming a common theme.

The verdict came on the same day that actor-producer Don Johnson was awarded $23 million in profits from Rysher Entertainment over "Nash Bridges." Last month, an appeals court upheld a $3.2 million jury verdict for Alan Ladd Jr. against Warner Bros. over profits from several Ladd-produced films. And in 2007, a case brought by "Will & Grace" creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan against NBC Universal was settled shortly after a jury reached a $48.5 million verdict.

After seemingly disappearing for a few years, the "vertical integration" case is back -- with a vengeance.

"This is a game changer," said Larry Stein, a litigator who brought some of the first lawsuits challenging studio self-dealing in the 1990s on behalf of such participants as David Duchovny (against Fox over "The X-Files") and the creators of "Home Improvement" (against Disney/ABC). 

The elimination of "fin-syn" rules in the '90s led to a wave of consolidation in the television business. For the first time, big media conglomerates were both producing and distributing highly lucrative content, often sitting across from affiliated entities at the bargaining table. Creative partners soon began challenging certain deals, claiming they were designed to shortchange third-party profit participants. 

But after an initial wave of vertical integration cases (some of which settled with big payouts), many studios changed deal language to limit damages and require private arbitration of claims. A key appeals court decision involving Gary Wolf, a profit participant on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," also helped the studio cause, ruling that participants aren't owed fiduciary duties, which eliminates the possibility of punitive damages in most cases.

"Everyone got discouraged," said Stein, who represented Celador in the first few years of the six-year litigation but was not involved in the trial. "But then the studios decided to fight a few of these cases on the older deals. A jury is always going to ask, 'How much money did the studio make and how much did the profit participant make?' And the jury will look at it and say, 'That can't be.' "

who_wants_to_be_a_millionaire2.jpg (15382 bytes) During the three-week trial, Silberfeld hammered home the accounting issue, arguing that ABC artificially deflated fees the network should have paid BVT and Disney-owned Valleycrest, which in turn decreased Celador's share of revenue. In the 1999 deal, ABC received broadcast nights to the show, while BVT got other rights like production and distribution. In exchange, Celador received an executive producer fee for each network episode (weekly fees in syndication) plus backend participation based on BVT's--but not ABC's--gross receipts, subject to deductions.
Damages requests reached as much as $395 million but the jury ultimately awarded $260 million on the network license fee claim and about $9 million on a claim over merchandising revenue.

Disney vowed to appeal the ruling.

"The judge and the jury got this all wrong," Disney CEO Bob Iger told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday at the Sun Valley executive confab.

Iger was one of several top execs that testified during the trial in front of U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips.

Former WMA agents Ben Silverman, Greg Lipstone and John Ferriter all discussed under oath the dealmaking that brought "Millionaire" to the U.S., as did Celador topper Paul Smith.

WMA was not a defendant but it packaged the show and came under fire in the trial. Disney, led by attorney Marty Katz, argued that the agents and Celador's in-house lawyers were aware of the license fee arrangement. Celador and/or its reps "knew they were never going to make money off the network run," Katz told the jury during closing arguments. Lipstone, the chief negotiator for Celador and now an ICM agent, testified that he did not know that ABC was going to set a license fee equal to the show's production costs until long after the 1999 contract was signed. He said if he knew that was going to be the arrangement, he would have informed Celador and would not have closed the deal.

Former Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner never appeared at trial, although an e-mail was read in which Eisner estimated the value of the show's rights at $1 billion and said it would reverse the network's fortunes. During Iger's testimony, he contradicted Eisner's e-mail by calling him a "great enthusiast" who might have been making "wild guesses" in describing the "Millionaire" franchise's worth.

Jurors were presented with four possible damages scenarios and chose none of them, instead fashioning their own calculation. Disney will likely focus on these calculations in an appeal that could take years to meander through the courts.

Reaction from the Hollywood litigation community focused on the recent spate of anti-studio verdicts in profits cases. Is this a coincidence or are juries sending a message that studio accounting practices will be scrutinized more closely in the future?

"Juries are highly skeptical and view studios in the same light as insurance companies,
" said Neville Johnson, a litigator who is representing actor Jack Klugman in a profits case against NBC Universal over "Quincy M.E." that has a September trial date. 

"These are the types of claims that juries respond to in a visceral manner," added Michael Kump, who is representing the creators of "Smallville" in another profits case against Warner Bros. "Even though they have complicated issues of accounting, juries can get their arms around it."

 

 

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News and Media -  2010

 
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Judge Settles Fee Dispute

    Neville L. Johnson, Johnson & Johnson LLP

By Jean-Luc Renault

Daily Journal Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - A settlement in a class action that screenwriters filed against the Writers Guild of America West over unpaid foreign distribution levies gave rise to another dispute, this time over attorney fees.

The judge overseeing the case resolved the fee issue at a hearing on Thursday, bringing the long-running lawsuit to an end but giving the plaintiffs' lawyers little time to rest as they work on another settlement in a similar case against the Screen Actors' Guild.

Writer William Richert, represented by Neville Johnson of Johnson & Johnson and Paul Kiesel of Kiesel, Boucher & Larson, filed the lawsuit against the WGAW in 2005 on behalf of 17,000 guild and non-guild writers.

A number of European and South American countries began to impose taxes in the 1980s on distribution of copyrighted American works in television broadcasts and video rentals. Starting in 1991, those funds were paid to WGAW, which placed them into a trust.

The guild is supposed to disburse the money, whether the recipients are union members or not, but according to a report released last year, the WGAW amassed a backlog of $30 million in levy funds for writers it couldn't locate.

The settlement, which Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carl West approved last month, required the WGAW to account for all the undistributed funds and to do everything possible to disburse the money to its recipients.

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Writers Guild of America - www.wga.org

But a controversy arose after two attorneys for objectors who took issue with a draft version of the settlement requested $193,800 in fees after spending about six months working with the class counsel on a revised agreement.

Johnson and Kiesel, who requested that their $1.03 million in fees be enhanced by a multiplier to $1.75 million, filed opposition to the objectors' request last month, as did Anthony Segall, a partner with Rothner, Segall, Greenstone & Leheny and general counsel for the WGAW.

Solo practitioners Jeffrey Winikow and Steven Kaplan responded with their own filing, stating that "the attorneys' fees were not only reasonable, but the inevitable consequence of an original settlement proposal that had gaping holes and shortcomings."

West said during a hearing Thursday that Winikow, who reported 77 hours on the case, and Kaplan, who reported 246 hours, did provide beneficial input to the final agreement, but that their request "seemed to me to be excessive."

He granted $50,000 for Winikow and Kaplan, $15,000 for another lawyer who represented separate objectors from an Australian animation union, and $1.6 million for Johnson and Kiesel.

West also granted a $20,000 incentive fee for Reichert and $3,500 each for Maude Feil and Anne Jamison, the two other co-lead plaintiffs on the case.

Johnson and Kiesel now can turn their focus to a similar dispute with SAG over about $8 million in undistributed foreign levies, filed in 2007 by Ken Osmond, the actor who played Eddie Haskell on "Leave it To Beaver."

Latham & Watkins partners Dan Schecter and Ernest Getto are representing SAG in the lawsuit, over which West is presiding.

Both Kiesel and Johnson declined to comment on whether they expected a similar settlement in the SAG case, but Kiesel said that talks with the union are ongoing and that the plaintiffs expect to make a new filing with the court in the next two weeks.

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jean-luc_renault @ dailyjournal.com

 

 

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News and Media -  2010

 

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http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1642530/20100628/drake.jhtml

Jun. 28, 2010

Drake Sued By Playboy
Playboy Enterprises alleges that Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds' 'Fallin' in Love' is used in Drizzy's 'Best I Ever Had.'

By Mawuse Ziegbe

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Photo: Michael Caulfield/ WireImage

Many pop stars have indulged in a fantasy-fulfilling visit to the Playboy Mansion once they've made it. However, in Drake's case, Playboy has come after him, alleging that the star's success is due in part to a song owned by the media company.

Playboy Enterprises is claiming that Drizzy's breakthrough hit "Best I Ever Had," samples the 1975 song "Fallin' in Love," by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (also known as Hamilton, Joe Frank and Dennison), which is owned by Playboy.

According to a report posted on MissTilaOMG.com, Playboy Enterprises is suing Drake, Cash Money Records, Universal Music Group and Universal Music Group Distribution for copyright infringement.

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Neville L. Johnson, Johnson & Johnson LLP

Attorney Neville Johnson of Johnson & Johnson LLP, which is representing Playboy, confirmed to MTV News that the company has filed a lawsuit but declined to comment on the case. Reps for Drake had not responded to MTV News' request for comment at press time.

In court documents filed in California on June 25, Playboy states that "Best I Ever Had" has been "an enormous commercial success" and asserts that "each Defendant either knew, or should have reasonably known, that the sound recording ['Fallin' in Love'] was protected by copyright. Each Defendant continues to infringe upon Plaintiff's right in and to the copyrighted sound recording." Playboy Enterprises is seeking damages in the suit and "asks that all infringing works be recalled and destroyed."

Drizzy's 2009 hit from his So Far Gone mixtape topped the charts, vaulted the rapper from the mixtape scene and solidified the MC's status as a mainstream star. The video for "Best I Ever Had," which was heavy on scantily clad lady b-ballers, also scored a lot of buzz among his fans.

Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds' 1975 song "Fallin' in Love" went to #1, the group's last big record after switching up their lineup and notching a hit in the early '70s with "Don't Pull Your Love (Out)."

 

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News and Media -  2010

 
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http://thresq.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/06/
judge-rules-ae-mishandled-
steven-seagal-lawman-claim.html

Jun. 10, 2010

Judge rules A&E mishandled 'Steven Seagal: Lawman' claim

By Eriq Gardner

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EXCLUSIVE: In a pretty extraordinary move, a New York District Court has slapped A&E Television Networks for filing in "bad faith" a lawsuit seeking to clarify who generated the idea behind "Steven Seagal: Lawman."

Last August, Genuine Entertainment and The Idea Factory sent A&E Television Networks a demand letter over the show. The letter entailed allegations that the idea behind the reality program was stolen and that A&E had pushed them aside to work directly with Seagal. Attached to the letter was a draft complaint, and Genuine gave A&E ten days to settle the dispute or face a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to Neville Johnson, his clients had every intention of trying to resolve the dispute outside the courtroom.

Instead, just four days after receiving the letter, A&E Television Networks beat its adversaries to the courtroom, seeking declaratory relief in New York District Court. The next day, Genuine Entertainment and The Idea Factory filed their own suit in Los Angeles.

Thursday, New York District Judge Richard Holwell dismissed A&E's action. "The action's purpose was, quite obviously, to shift adjudication of the claims from a California state court to a New York federal court," he writes.

The decision follows a similar decision last October by a LA Superior Court judge that A&E acted in bad faith by trying to forum shop. In doing so, the judge declined to stay the case. The case will now be heard in Los Angeles.

A&E declined comment.

 

 

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News and Media -  2010

 
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Jun. 09, 2010

Screenwriters Deal Approved

By Jean-Luc Renault
Daily Journal Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - A judge has approved a final settlement agreement between a class of screenwriters and the Writers Guild of America West, bringing to an end a five-year lawsuit involving tens of millions of dollars in revenue from foreign distribution levies that were never paid out.

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Writers Guild of America - www.wga.org

While the initial dispute has come to a resolution, a new issue has emerged - whether lawyers for three objectors to the settlement are entitled to nearly $200,000 in legal fees generated from seven months of work on the long-running case. Those fees come on top of more than $1 million already requested by other attorneys involved in the case.

Writer William Richert, represented by Neville Johnson of Johnson & Johnson and Paul Kiesel of Kiesel, Boucher & Larson, filed the lawsuit against the WGAW in 2005 on behalf of 17,000 guild and non-guild writers to whom the union owed money.

A number of European and South American countries began to impose taxes in the 1980s on distribution of copyrighted American works in television broadcasts and video rentals.

Starting in 1991, those funds were paid to WGAW, which placed them into a trust. The guild is supposed to disburse the money, whether the recipients are union members or not.

According to a guild report released in August last year, the WGAW had amassed a backlog of about $30 million in undistributed levy funds. The guild said it could not disburse the accumulating money because it could not locate the recipients.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carl West signed the final settlement agreement last week, which required the guild to "use its best efforts to pay all foreign levy funds in its possession" under the continued direction of the court.

The settlement also required the guild to post on its website a database where writers can either check to see if they're owed money or register works that may one day entitle them to foreign levies.

The settlement calls for a one-time audit of the levy program, "from inception to present," by one of the "Big Four" accounting firms - PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young or KPMG.

The audit, which will tally the total amount of money that's ever been brought into the program, the interest accrued and the amount distributed to writers, will be posted on the WGAW website for five years and paid for with interest generated from the funds held in trust.

Money allotted for writers who can't be identified will be donated to a court-approved charity and payments intended for writers, who can be identified but not located, will become unclaimed property subject to California law.

Initially, the guild claimed it should be able to keep funds intended for identifiable writers who could not be located, but three writers objected and pushed to have the undeliverable payments become unclaimed property.

Objecting writers Eric Hughes, Art Eisenson and Stefan Avalos also succeeded in limiting the guild's scope of release, giving some class members the ability to pursue legal remedies not covered in the lawsuit.

Their lawyers, who first became involved in the case after West's approval of a preliminary settlement agreement last October, filed objections with the settlement in February and continued to be involved in negotiations until the final agreement was signed.

Those lawyers - solo practitioners Jeffrey Winikow and Steven Kaplan - requested $193,800 in fees, plus $1,023 in costs for their combined 323 logged hours in papers filed with the court late last month.

Kiesel, who did not immediately return a call seeking comment, requested $231,897 for about 300 hours of work starting in March 2008, when Kiesel became co-counsel on the case.

Winikow, who logged a total of 77 hours for the case, said he believed West will recognize the impact the objectors had on the final settlement when a motion to approve the fees goes in front of the judge at a July 1 hearing.

"It's well established that when objectors' participation presents a benefit to the class, that entitles you to reasonable attorneys' fees," Winikow said in an interview.

Kaplan did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Although a disagreement over attorneys' fees will not impact the settlement, counsel for both sides can object to fee requests.

Johnson, who is requesting $800,299.80 in fees for his work on the case since 2005, declined comment on whether he would formally object to the objectors' fees, which would be paid out from the guild's unclaimed funds.

Anthony Segall, a partner with Rothner, Segall, Greenstone & Leheny who represented the guild, did not return calls seeking comment on the requested fees.

 

 

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News and Media -  2010

 
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May 5, 2010

Screen Writers Set to Get $30 Million

By Jean-Luc Renault
Daily Journal Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - A five-year legal battle over tens of millions of dollars owed to film and television writers took a step closer to a resolution Monday.

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Writers Guild of America - www.wga.org

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carl West indicated at a hearing that he likely would give final approval to a settlement agreement between the Writers Guild of America West and a class of about 17,000 screenwriters, despite objections from a foreign collection society and two writers.

If approved, the settlement would bring to an end a long-running class action over the guild's inability to disburse about $30 million in foreign levies owed to screenwriters whose work has been distributed overseas. "This settlement will provide a substantial and real benefit for all class members," West said.

The WGA, which has collected and distributed the levies since 1991, was supposed to send that money to union and non-union writers, but the guild claims that some of the funds started pooling after several recipients could not be located.

Writer William Richert, represented by lawyers from Johnson & Johnson and Kiesel, Boucher & Larson, filed the class action in 2005 over the guild's inability to disburse the money, which comes from taxes on cable broadcasts and video rentals of movies and programs in several European and South American countries.

The settlement, which West granted preliminary approval to last fall, calls for the accounting and distribution of the levy funds the guild has collected the past two decades.

Objectors to the agreement included the Australian Writers' Guild Authorship Collecting Society, which claimed the class definition is too broad and would prevent Australian writers from pursuing potential future legal action over undistributed levies against the WGA.

Also objecting to the settlement were two writers who claimed the agreement did not guarantee payment to class members and that it didn't provide an accounting of who has been paid.

"My preliminary inclination is to override the objections and give the settlement final approval," said West, who assured objectors that the court would oversee the ongoing administration of the agreement.

Lawyers for the guild, the class and the objectors agreed to meet outside of court to amend the existing agreement and to draft a final agreement order by next week for West to sign.

 

 

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News and Media -  2010

 
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March 19, 2010

Lawyer Battles Unions in Foreign Levies Cases

By Jean-Luc Renault
Daily Journal Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - Neville Johnson, the 60-year-old founder of Beverly Hills' seven-attorney firm Johnson & Johnson, sat hunched over a counsel table during a morning hearing last week at the Central Civil West Courthouse.

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Neville L. Johnson

Superior Court Judge Carl West was about to decide if he would give final approval to a settlement in a long-running class action involving $30 million in levies on video rentals and cable retransmissions in foreign countries the Writers Guild of America West failed to disburse to several thousand writers. If West signed off, it would be the second time Johnson, a plaintiffs' lawyer who spent his career representing individual clients against institutional defendants, prevailed against a powerful Hollywood guild.

He already reached a nearly identical settlement over the same issue in 2008 against the Directors Guild of America. With a similar case against the Screen Actors Guild nearing a settlement, Johnson is poised to go three-for-three. But West put the brakes on that momentum temporarily after he directed both sides to tie up a few loose ends in the agreement.

Johnson has an intimidating presence. He's a big, gruff guy whose gravely voice is punctuated with expletives. He's got a sense of humor that puts others at ease, and his toothy smile glints with the same impish charm flashing behind his crisp blue eyes. "He's a funny guy," said Lincoln Bandlow, a Lathrop & Gage partner who defended several clients in the entertainment industry against plaintiffs Johnson represented. "In one case, I had won a motion after Neville lost an earlier one," Bandlow said. "He said to the judge 'If you're going to give him one, you should give me one, too!'"

That's how Johnson has been able to aggravate opponents while, at the same time, win them over. "He can be fun to argue against in court, and he can be frustrating to argue against, too," said Bandlow. "He's a pit bull with a bone - he'll grab a hold of it and keep shaking even after you think you've prevailed and moved on. But whenever I get a call from somebody who wants to sue a record label or a big company, Neville is the first guy I tell them to call." Tenacious as he is, peers say Johnson can sometimes get carried away when arguing for something he believes in.

Paul Kiesel, a partner with Kiesel, Boucher & Larson who is co-counsel on the WGA and SAG class actions, said Johnson "can, at times, be unbridled in his passion." "Neville brought me into these cases to provide a calming influence over a very passionate personality that he brings," Kiesel said. Johnson, who often describes his cases as David versus Goliath, would be proud of that characterization. "Everyone in this town wants to make a deal with someone we want to sue," Johnson said. "And that's what we do."

Johnson knew he wanted to be a lawyer by the time he was 12. That's when he was awestruck after watching Marvin Freeman, a lawyer and family friend who later became a Superior Court judge, argue in court. But after studying sociology and journalism at UC Berkeley, the Loyola High grad took a detour on those plans and founded the "Night Times," a Bay Area newspaper. He said journalism, like law, had always appealed to him as a career. "In both areas, I like that you can take on large adversaries for the benefit of society," he said. But after a dispute with a business partner a year later, Johnson left the news business and to pursue a law degree. "Law school was the single most important event and turning point in my life," he said. "It sort of gave me a reason for being on the planet."

After graduating from Southwestern Law School in 1975, Johnson had stints in private practice and as a public defender. He went solo in 1978, and his big break came three years later when he started representing Yoko Ono and the estate of John Lennon. In 1984, he sued Earth, Wind & Fire's publishing company in a separate case and won. Johnson represented Mark Sanders, a telephone psychic service employee, in a lawsuit filed against ABC in 1993. A reporter from the network had used a hidden camera and microphone to record conversations with Sanders at the service's office as part of an investigative report. The 5-year case, which Johnson eventually won before the state Supreme Court, redefined news-gathering laws.

The win also kick-started Johnson's invasion-of-privacy and defamation practices - strange pursuits for a former newsman. "I do find it somewhat ironic that I became one of the lawyers who had significant success suing the media for right of privacy and defamation," Johnson said. "But media has its problems like any other industry. I did a valid public service by keeping them on the straight and narrow."

That's how Johnson views the majority of his cases: public services benefiting the little guys. The guild cases are a prime example. The money, known as foreign levies, came from European and South American countries that began collecting taxes in the 1980s on video rentals and cable retransmissions of movies and TV shows to compensate copyright holders. In 1991, the countries started sending the funds to the three guilds, which were supposed to disburse the money to union and non-union directors, writers and actors. But the guilds said some recipients were impossible to locate, and after nearly 15 years the unions were sitting on tens of millions of dollars in undistributed funds.

Johnson learned about the money from Eric Hughes, a candidate for WGA president in 2003 and 2004. Hughes had gained access to the union's financial records from a board member and, through his research, learned that the directors' and actors' unions were also holding large amounts of undistributed levies in trust. He passed along that information to Johnson, after which the lawyer asked current clients who fit the mold to serve as lead plaintiffs in each of the suits against the guilds.

"He was a mastermind behind all these," said law partner Doug Johnson, who is not related, and who also worked on the cases. The DGA case was the first to reach a settlement, the terms of which required the guild to do a full accounting of its foreign levy program and keep a database on its Web site where directors can claim their portion of the more than $10 million in undistributed funds. The 2008 settlement netted $399,538 in attorney awards and fees for Johnson's firm, just short of the $400,000 the lawyers had requested for their 436 hours of work. Lead plaintiff William Webb was awarded a $15,000 incentive fee for his involvement in the case. West, also the judge from the DGA case, approved a similar settlement agreement with the WGA in September. Although the sum of the WGA's undistributed levies was larger, the settlement arrangement involving a Web database was essentially the same as the DGA's. Pending West's approval, requested attorney fees in the WGA settlement range between $500,000 and $1.75 million.

Johnson is also requesting that William Richert, a non-union screenwriter and one of the lead plaintiffs on the case, receive an incentive payment of $20,000. The other two lead plaintiffs, Maude Feil and Ann Jamison, would receive $3,500 each if approved. Johnson is also representing Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell in "Leave it to Beaver," in another class action against SAG involving $8 million in undistributed levy funds, which is set to follow the same path as the other two lawsuits. "I'm not going to say it was cookie cutter, but our work did become somewhat easier as each case developed," said Johnson, adding that the lawsuits were necessary to dislodge the funds being held by the guilds. "The Number 1 goal in all these cases is to provide accountability and transparency, and I think we've gone a long way in achieving that end," he said. "It was the only way."

On the weekends, Johnson pursues eclectic hobbies. Fifteen years ago, the opposite was true. Johnson was all work, all the time, and it was taking its toll on the wearied lawyer. That changed when a priest friend pulled the busy lawyer aside one day. "He told me to respect the Sabbath," said Johnson, who was raised Catholic. "Hey, I'm down with that! One does not have to spend their entire life working." Johnson's most recent side project is recording and releasing albums under the stage name Trevor McShane, which was, until recently, a secret identity. As McShane, Johnson's deep, twang-inflected vocals are laid over a bed of bluesy rock n' roll - the kind one would expect to see married baby boomers dancing to after having three too many beers at their local bar and grill. But during the week, he insists that he's all Johnson.

"First and foremost, I practice law," he said. "I don't want to be perceived as someone not serious about being a lawyer - by clients, judges and opposing counsel. But I'm serious about getting my music out to the public." With big plans this year - he's releasing one new song for each week of 2010 - he said it would have been hard trying to keep his identities separate to fans and music critics. Besides, it probably would have been even more difficult to sell some of the dubious claims in McShane's biography, which tells about the reclusive musician's stints as a Tibetan monk-in-training, a merchant seaman, a graduate student in Bulgaria and a science professor at a small Midwestern university. It sounds a bit kooky, but McShane's sort of an inside joke for Johnson, who laughs when talking about pursuing his other passion in life. "We're only on this planet for a limited amount of time," said Johnson. "I don't want to be one of those people at the end of my life saying, I should have done this."

 

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News and Media -  2010

 
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www.dailyjournal.com

RESULT DATE: Jan. 25, 2010

J.S. Haute Stuff LLC v. Now & Zen Productions, LLC, Brandon P. Hull, Jeffrey M. Kohen (CV09-3094 R (AGRx)) 10-JV_680
Mediator Hon. Judith C. Chirlin USDC Central
TOPIC: Intellectual Property
SUB TOPIC: Unfair Competition
FURTHER DESCRIPTION: Improper Cease-And-Desist Letter
SETTLEMENT: $1,750,000
ATTORNEY:
Plaintiff - Douglas L. Johnson, Neville L. Johnson (Johnson & Johnson, LLP, Beverly Hills).
Defendant - Leopoldo A. Bautista, Daniel C. DeCarlo, Daniel R. Lewis (Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith, LLP, Los Angeles) for Now & Zen Productions LLC, Jeffrey Kohen; Joshua S. Davis, Gregory H. Halliday (Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, LLP, Los Angeles) for Brandon P. Hull.

FACTS: Plaintiff J.S. Haute Stuff, LLC ("Haute Stuff") sold "Chick Magnet" and "Ladies Man" infant t-shirts to its biggest customer, Nordstrom from 2004 to 2007. Defendant Jeffrey Kohen ("Kohen"), the sole owner of defendant Now & Zen Productions, LLC ("NAZ"), one of the largest "verbiage" t-shirt manufacturers, claimed that such activity infringed NAZ's copyrights for the words Chick Magnet and Ladies Man.

As such, in September 2007, Kohen instructed his attorney, defendant Brandon Hull ("Hull"), to write to Nordstrom to demand that Nordstrom stop selling Haute Stuff's shirts within 48 hours of the letter and pay restitution to Kohen's company of $1.00 per Chick Magnet and Ladies Man shirt sold.

Hull sent a cease-and-desist letter to Nordstrom (without carbon copy to Haute Stuff) on Oct. 5, 2007. Nordstrom acquiesced, immediately pulling the "infringing" goods off its shelves and "depublishing" them from its website. On Oct. 19, 2007, after the cease-and-desist letter, Kohen e-mailed an employee at NAZ stating: "I am afraid Chick Magnet has well and true become public domain. It is an indefensible property where it comes to infringement."

Despite Kohen's statement, Hull continued to assert to Nordstrom that NAZ did own copyrights in the words. In December 2007, Hull e-mailed in-house counsel at Nordstrom, Barbara Barbilleaux, confirming that his client did not have any registered copyrights for the Chick Magnet and Ladies Man designs but nonetheless claiming that his client had common law copyright protection for the designed based on his client's purported independent creation and use in commerce of the designs. Haute Stuff sued NAZ, in connection with defendants' cease-and-desist letter and conduct, for allegedly destroying the business relationship between Haute Stuff and Haute Stuff's largest customer. Kohen and NAZ sought indemnity from Hull for allegedly failing to properly advise them.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: The plaintiff contended that Hull's assertion that had no legal basis because, as it is widely known, common law copyright no longer exists in American law. Moreover, Haute Stuff's intellectual property lawyer, who dealt with Hull and Nordstrom at the time, testified that Hull admitted to him that Hull knew that NAZ's assertions to Nordstrom were legally baseless, but that Kohen was a very aggressive client and used such cease-and-desist letters to his competitor's customers as a calculated means to squelch competition. Indeed, over the five years preceding NAZ's cease-and-desist letter to Nordstrom, the defendants had engaged in a systematic pattern of fraud to eliminate its competition in the apparel business, especially with respect to competitors who sold t-shirts with commonly used words and/or short phrases on them.

Gabriel further testified that Hull told him that his client had been very successful in court on its "legal theory" that common words like Chick Magnet and Ladies Man could be copyrighted. However, when Gabriel asked Hull to send him each complaint that had been filed by NAZ and the case name and number for each such case, Hull failed to provide him with any such information. This is because NAZ had never actually sued anyone for copyright infringement. Hull eventually stopped returning Gabriel's phone calls and refused to respond to his multiple inquiries.

Thus, defendants poisoned and destroyed Haute Stuff's business relationship with Nordstrom. At least two Nordstrom employees, including its own in-house counsel, told Haute Stuff's attorney that Nordstrom would not continue its business relationship with Haute Stuff because of defendants' letter. Nordstrom stopped ordering from Haute Stuff for seven months, and meticulously phased out Haute Stuff as a Nordstrom vendor.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Kohen and NAZ contended that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate bad faith. Defendants contended that Kohen and NAZ relied upon the advice of counsel that the position advanced was legally viable. Defendants contended that, as a matter of copyright law, registrations are not necessary to establish copyright rights. Kohen contended that he was not aware that the claims advanced were not legally cognizable under copyright law. Defendants further contended that Haute Stuff's declining sales with Nordstrom were caused by Haute Stuff's poor performance as a vendor and not as a result of defendants' cease and desist letter.

DAMAGES: Haute Stuff's claims included interference with contractual relations, interference with prospective advantage, violation of the Lanham Act and trade libel. As compensatory damages for the California tort claims, Haute Stuff sought lost profits at present value in the amount of $1,768,476.

For the Lanham Act claims, Haute Stuff's damages expert valued the lost goodwill at $1,412,602 and calculated lost profits of $1,768,476. At trial, Haute Stuff would have elected to recover its lost profits, which would have approached $1.8 million based on additional interest on the date of a judgment. The Lanham Act also authorizes trebling of Haute Stuff's compensatory damages in cases where willful conduct is shown, and does not preclude an award of punitive damages on state law tort claims. In "exceptional cases," the prevailing party on a Lanham Act claim may recover its attorney's fees where there is "bad faith or other malicious conduct."

The attorney's fees could have reached $400,000 had there been a trial.
Kohen and NAZ contended that the damage calculations were flawed and unsupportable.

SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS: At the beginning of the case, defendants offered high five figures and plaintiff countered at $2.3 million.

RESULT: The case settled for $1.75 million.

 

 

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Douglas L. Johnson has been named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in the area of intellectual property litigation for the last five consecutive years (2006-2010). (Rising Star attorneys represent the Top 2.5% of their profession in Southern California for lawyers 40 year old and younger).

Selected to Super Lawyers:
Southern California Rising Stars 2010
Southern California Rising Stars 2009
Southern California Rising Stars 2008
Southern California Rising Stars 2007
Southern California Rising Stars 2006

 

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State judge approves WGA settlement

Foreign levies agreement could be final by March

Posted: Thurs., Oct. 1, 2009,
By DAVE MCNARY

A state court judge has given preliminary approval to a settlement in the tangled foreign levies suit against the Writers Guild of America --possibly triggering payment of millions of dollars to writers as early as next spring.  

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carl West approved the settlement Thursday and set Nov. 1 as the date for notifying approximately 17,000 class-action members. The jurist set Feb. 8 as the deadline for writers and heirs to opt out of the settlement and set March 1 as the date for final approval.

The 2005 suit, filed by William Richert ("Winter Kills"), centers on the WGA's authority in collecting foreign funds due to scribes as compensation for reuse -- such as taxes on video rentals, cable retransmissions and purchases of blank videocassettes and DVDs --and the guild's handling of those funds. Unlike in the U.S., a foreign distributor cannot assume total ownership of the copyrights on an artist's work.

"This has been a very hard-fought battle," said Neville Johnson, Richert's attorney. "I'm thrilled that we're getting closer to writers and heirs getting paid these funds after two decades."

The settlement calls for payment of all foreign funds within three years along with an independent accounting review of the program with any unclaimed funds will be paid to the Actors Fund. The WGA West disclosed recently in its annual report that, as of March 31, it had $30.3 million in "funds held in trust for members," including foreign levies, client trust accounts, undeliverable funds and a residuals trust fund - although it didn't break out how much of that was from foreign funds.

The foreign levies for American creatives began to flow after the U.S. agreement in 1989 to terms of the Berne Convention, which establishes the right of authorship for individuals who create works of art.

"The significance of this first-step triumph is that finally, after two decades or more, the WGA will have to lift the lid of its crypt of concealment of foreign taxes intended for writers and allow outside investigation," Richert told Daily Variety on Thursday.

The DGA settled a similar suit last year. It has distributed $77 million in foreign levies, including over $8 million to nonmembers. SAG's facing a similar suit from Ken Osmond that's yet to be resolved.

The settlement is likely to come under fire from Eric Hughes, who has been a consultant for the plaintiffs on the suit. He told Daily Variety he plans to seek decertification of the suit as a class action.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009467.html

Neville  L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

"This has been a very hard-fought battle," said Neville Johnson, Richert's attorney. "I'm thrilled that we're getting closer to writers and heirs getting paid these funds after two decades."

.

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Writers Guild of America - www.wga.org

 

 

 

 

 

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News and Media -  2010

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Johnson & Johnson LLP was featured on a very special episode of:
Best of LA TV on Sunday January 31st, @ 2:30pm on KCAL 9.

 

News and Media -  2009

September 24, 2009

Variety-legal.jpg (5037 bytes)
Judge said Kerkorian probably knew of wiretapping

Posted: Thurs., Sep 24, 2009
By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge said that billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian probably knew that his ex-wife was being illegally wiretapped during their child custody dispute, according to court documents.

Kerkorian, the largest shareholder of casino operator MGM Mirage, has consistently denied that he knew that his attorney Terry Christensen paid celebrity sleuth Anthony Pellicano to tap the phone of his ex-wife, Lisa Bonder Kerkorian, in 2002.

Christensen and Pellicano last year were sentenced to federal prison for their roles in the illegal tapings. Kerkorian, 92, was never charged and is not under investigation, his attorney said.

A U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman declined to comment.

But the judge who tried Pellicano and Christensen said in a 2008 opinion that there was "reasonable cause to believe that (Kerkorian) was" complicit in their illegal conduct, court documents showed.

The previously sealed opinion by U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer surfaced on Wednesday in a civil lawsuit brought by Lisa Bonder Kerkorian against her ex-husband, Pacific Bell Telephone Co, and Christensen.

Fischer's opinion pertains to whether taped conversations between Pellicano and Christensen could be used by prosecutors in the criminal trial.

"Because the conversations are not privileged, the Court need not decide whether Kerkorian was complicit in the alleged illegal conduct," Fischer wrote in the opinion. "However, the communications themselves provide a reasonable cause to believe that he was."

Fischer notes in her order that the recordings show that Christensen "does not deny that he is telling Kerkorian what Pellicano is hearing" (on the wiretaps).

In another recording, Christensen "explains that he will talk to Kerkorian about the information that he has received from Pellicano," Fischer's opinion says.

In another conversation, Pellicano asks if Kerkorian is happy with his work, and Christensen replies that "our jaw is still hanging down" over some of the information Pellicano had obtained, the opinion said.

Seth Hufstedler, an attorney for Kerkorian, said Fischer "said only that there was reasonable cause to believe" Kerkorian knew about the wiretaps and that the judge left the matter as "an undecided issue."

Hufstedler knew of "no investigation of Mr. Kerkorian in connection with this matter."

Pellicano, once known as Hollywood's private eye to the stars, was sentenced in December to 15 years in prison for running a criminal enterprise involving wiretapping and bribery. He also faces more than a dozen civil lawsuits brought by former targets of his illegal wiretapping.

The former sleuth worked for lawyers representing celebrities including Tom Cruise, Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson, and presented himself as the ultimate problem solver.

(Reporting by Gina Keating, editing by Dan Whitcomb, Eric Walsh and Matthew Lewis)

Read the full article at:
http://www.reuters.com/CasinosGaming/idUSN2446014320090924

January 16, 2009

MOVIES / COURTS
Kerkorian Ex-Wife's Attorney Files Suit
By ALEXA  HYLAND
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Scroll here for complete article

"... Jeff Sturman, who represented Bonder Kerkorian alongside attorney Stephen Kolodny, filed the suit against casino mogul Kerkorian, jailed private sleuth Anthony Pellicano, convicted entertainment attorney Terry Christensen, and the Century City law firm Christensen founded, Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs & Shapiro LLP. Telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. was also named in the suit.

Douglas Johnson, an attorney representing Sturman, said evidence from the recent criminal trials against Pellicano and Christensen revealed that his client’s conversations with Bonder Kerkorian were illegally recorded.

“Attorney-client conversations with his client were recorded, and we heard those tapes come out in the Pellicano trial,” Johnson said.

Douglas L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
“Attorney-client conversations with his client were recorded, and we heard those tapes come out in the Pellicano trial,” Douglas Johnson said..

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Kirk Kerkorian
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Lisa Bonder Kerkorian
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Anthony Pellicano

Scroll here for complete article

"Causes of action: Unlawfull wiretapping; unlawfull eavesdropping; common law intrusion; constitional invasion of privacy; negligence; negligent supervision

Filing counsel: Douglas Johnson, Neville Johnson and Nicholas Kurtz of Johnson & Johnson (Beverly Hills, Calif.) ..."

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August 21, 2009

Murder suspect raises reality TV questions

By DERRIK J. LANG
AP Entertainment Writer

"... 51 Minds, the production company behind VH1's "Megan Wants a Millionaire," said Thursday that it had commissioned a check on the 17 wealthy bachelors vying for the love of former "Rock of Love" contestant Megan Hauserman — but it didn't turn up the troubled past of Ryan Alexander Jenkins.

"While casting ex-cons isn't illegal, Douglas Johnson, an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles who has represented reality TV production companies and contestants, thinks dating shows that involve intimate feelings like "Megan Wants a Millionaire" have a bigger responsibility to ensure the emotional well-being and physical safety of their contestants.

"In these situations, these production companies have a duty not to be negligent," said
Johnson. "To be safe, and to make sure you're not putting yourself in a situation where liability would be attached, I would advise them not to put someone on a show that had a criminal background because they have a propensity to not abide by social standards."

 

Douglas L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Douglas L. Johnson
djohnson@jjllplaw.com

Click here to view the full stoy at Associated Press

 

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Jasmine Fiore

 

 

The Top 10 Rules for Success
in the Practice of Law

Los Angeles Lawyer
The Magazine of the Los Angeles County Bar Association

June 2008     Vol. 31, No. 4

Barristers Tips
Ten Rules for Success in the Practice of Law
By Neville L. Johnson

... always be civil,  bond with the jury, do not wait until the last minute, be quick, pick the right client and case, make a record, do not take the judge on, join bar associations, cut your losses when you have to, lead a balanced life.

barristers tips BY NEVILLE L. JOHNSON

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Neville L. Johnson
njohnson@jjllplaw.com

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Power of Attorneys

A tenacious Hollywood lawyer is more important than ever

July 23, 2009, 06:30 PM ET

It's really rough out there."

That's a top talent attorney bemoaning the economic sea changes washing over every corner of Hollywood -- yes, even the lawyers are feeling the pinch. And yet, as studios squeeze star salaries and the credit crunch slows the pace of deal activity, compiling The Hollywood Reporter's third annual list of the
100 most influential entertainment lawyers in America was no easy task. From high-stakes litigation like the battle between Warner Bros. and Fox over "Watchmen" to the yearlong maneuvering that paired DreamWorks with India's Reliance Big Entertainment and Disney, the industry's most compelling dramas increasingly cast lawyers in the starring roles.

Neville Johnson
Johnson & Johnson LLP

The Anthony Pellicano criminal trials are done, but Johnson is just getting started on civil suits for wiretapping victims against the likes of Pellicano, Chris Rock, Kirk Kerkorian, Terry Christensen, Bert Fields and others. Johnson, an unabashed plaintiff-side litigator, isn't afraid to ruffle feathers in Hollywood. "We're not in the business of trying to make deals," he says. "We're trying to right wrongs." He's lead counsel in a theft of ideas suit against Merv Griffin Prods., as well as cases against Sony, RDF and Marvel, among others. He represents the late Colin Higgins against fellow Power Lawyer Barry Hirsch for failing to protect Higgens' interest in the "9 to 5" stage musical. And after prevailing in a class action against the DGA over payment of foreign levies resulting in millions paid to non-DGA directors, Johnson has similar suits against the WGA and SAG. Surprising trivia: Johnson also sings and records as Trevor McShane.

FREE ADVICE

  1. Q: I'm a Broadway producer. What's the best way to convince a film studio to let me make a play out of a hit movie?
  2. Q: I'm a television producer. What should I insist on in my profit participation definition?
  3. Q: I'm an A-list writer. How can I maintain my quote when studios are drastically cutting talent fees?
  4. Q: I have a great idea for a reality show but I'm not Mark Burnett. How do I protect it?
  5. Q: We're a hot band. How do we protect ourselves in a "360 deal" with a label?
  6. Q: When is my handshake deal at a film festival an enforceable contract?
  7. Q: How do I keep my sex tape off the Internet?
  8. Q: How much can another reality show copy my own?
  9. Q: I work in television and, frankly, the future looks scary. How will the revenue streams in TV shift in the next 10 years?
  10. Q: I'm looking to invest in a film. What's the best way to match my money with a worthwhile project?
  11. Q: I'm not sure I can survive another de facto strike. Where will the next major guild battle be fought?

Read the full article at:
www.jjllplaw.com/
100 most influential entertainment lawyers in America

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Neville L. Johnson
njohnson@jjllplaw.com

Douglas L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Douglas L. Johnson
djohnson@jjllplaw.com

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Model's lawsuit against Chris Rock is unsealed

Monika Zsibrita filed the case in August. The saga began in 1998 and has involved a paternity suit, DNA tests, detective Anthony Pellicano and radio host Howard Stern.

By Harriet Ryan
February 27, 2009
Los Angeles Times

Read the full article at:
www.jjllplaw.com/
monica-zsibrita-suit-unsealed

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LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge unsealed the suit, which was filed against Rock in August, at the request of the plaintiff, Monika Zsibrita, the model from the Four Seasons. Now 36 and a married stay-at-home mother, Zsibrita said she wanted the court papers made public so people, especially those in her native Hungary, would know her version of a story in which she is often portrayed as a gold digger.

"My side has never been out," she said outside the courtroom. "This has basically ruined my life."

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" Her attorney, Neville Johnson, said Zsibrita initially filed the suit under seal because she did not want to run afoul of the confidentiality agreement contained in a 2000 settlement of the paternity case.

He said that Zsibrita should not be bound by the agreement because Rock had talked about her during a 2004 appearance on Stern's show."

 

 

left:
Monica Zsibrita

below:
Chris Rock,
Rihanna
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Hungarian Model Monika Zsibrita: Chris Rock Is a 'Monster'

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
February 27, 2009

www.wowowow.com/hungarian-model-monika-zsibrita-chris-rock-monster
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We’re sure comedian Chris Rock isn’t laughing at what Hungarian model Monika Zsibrita has to say about him.

Zsibrita — who for the last decade has accused Rock of fathering her child (two DNA tests proved otherwise), raping her (no charges were ever filed) and hiring an aggressive lawyer (Rock said he was unaware of Anthony Pellicano’s tactics) — now calls the comedian a "monster."

According to recently unsealed court documents, the 36-year-old claims that the "Saturday Night Live" actor breached a contract and various other civil charges. Pellicano, the city of Beverly Hills and three police supervisors are also named in the suit, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Rock’s rocky relationship with Zsibrita began in 1998, and he revealed private details of their tryst to Howard Stern back in 2004, when Rock was estranged from wife Malaak. The sex they had, he said, was purely consensual. Two years later, Zsibrita accused Rock of rape and Rock’s lawyer Pellicano reportedly and unlawfully shared the suit’s details with his client.

Despite the back-and-forth — and press — Zsibrita insists she isn’t after money. "My side has never been out," she told reporters outside the courtroom yesterday, the Times reports. "This has basically ruined my life."

This isn’t the first time Rock has found himself in a mess for his extramarital affairs. In 2007, former actress and freelance journalist Kali Bowyer charged that Rock was the father of her baby. As with Zsibrita, a DNA test proved otherwise.

 

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Model Monika Zsibrita Says Not a Gold Digger, Gets Lawsuit Against Chris Rock Unsealed: Did Rock Open Up This Can of Worms?


February 27, 2009

www.findlaw.com/
model-monika-zsibrita-
says-not-a-gold-digger-
gets-lawsuit-against-chris-rock-unsealed

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The L.A. Times reports that model-turned-stay-at-home-mom, Monika Zsibrita, has had her civil lawsuit against Chris Rock unsealed by a court...

... Interestingly, it was the latter "potshots" on Stern's show that may have, in part, contributed to allowing the suit to come to public light. Zsibrita's attorney, Neville Johnson, says she first filed the suit under seal "because she did not want to run afoul of the confidentiality agreement contained in a 2000 settlement of the paternity case." He argued further:

"that Zsibrita should not be bound by the agreement because Rock had talked about her during a 2004 appearance on Stern's show. According to a summary of the show included in court papers, the comedian said that his sexual liaison with Zsibrita was consensual and that he had been set up by a Nigerian hustler who was actually the father of her child."


Chris Rock’s Model Court Battle
Continues With New Suit

February 27, 2009

www.accesshollywood.com/
courts/chris-rocks-model-court-battle-continues-with-new-suit_article_15002

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LOS ANGELES, Calif.

Model Monika Zsibrita has sued Chris Rock, the latest development in a court battle between the two that has gone over for over a decade, according to the LA Times.

The suit was filed in August and has been unsealed by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge at the request of Zsibrita, who reportedly wanted the case made public.   ...

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Monika Zsibrita: Model’s Story Against Chris Rock Unsealed

Posted on 27 February 2009

by Tammy Cakes

www.hollywire.com/monika-zsibrita-models-story-against-chris-rock-unsealed/
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Rock hired notorious privare investigator Anthony Pelliciano, who is currently serving a 15 year sentence for wiretapping charges.

In a recorded phone call Rock told Pellicano, “I want to blacken this girl up, totally. I want to make her out to be a lying, scumbag, manipulative c–ks–ker … Stupid b–ch.” Zsibrita’s home was broken into repeatedly and photos of her daughter were removed, according to the suit.

 

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"My side has never been out," she told reporters outside the courtroom yesterday, the Times reports. "This has basically ruined my life."
 
 
A '70s Girl Group Seeks Second Act - In Court
After Decades Pass, a Sister Act Discovers Its Hidden Popularity and Seeks to Recoup Royalties

By Cortney Fielding
Daily Journal Staff Writer

Read the full article at:
www.jjllplaw.com/
jackson-sisters

Douglas L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

LOS ANGELES - It was the summer of 1972 when five young sisters from Compton slipped into homemade, cherry blossom-colored bell bottoms and sang for a packed house at the Inglewood Forum.

A year earlier, the family's performances had been limited to their backyard. Now - thanks to a talent manager who'd been scouting for sibling acts following the successful model of The Jackson 5 - The Jackson Sisters were making their world debut opening for R&B sensation Smokey Robinson.

By the time the girls, ages 11 through 17, finished belting out their signature song, "Miracles," to waves of applause, fame and riches seemed assured. They'd already spent much of their school break recording music in the same sound studio used by TV's The Partridge Family, and better yet, they'd even been sketched for their own Saturday-morning cartoon.

Universal is known for being aggressive in the best of financial times, said Douglas Johnson, whose firm Johnson & Johnson primarily handles entertainment-related cases.

"They make you pay when you want to complain," Johnson said. "They play hard ball all the time. It's never 'Hey, let's sit down and talk.'"

The dizzying ascent into celebrity status made things all the more confusing two years later, when Mum's Records told the family it wasn't working out and they'd might as well call it quits. And so they moved on. Some went to college, others married young and had children. In the decades to come, their short-lived brush with celebrity would fade into family lore, something to joke about at parties.

That is until 2003, when the sisters discovered their music never faded away. In fact, their songs were being played everywhere from the United Kingdom to Japan, and the record label that had acquired the music - Universal Music Group - has profited from their work throughout the ensuing decades. Thus began a five-year campaign to collect royalties from the world's largest label, which has now spilled into a Los Angeles courtroom.

The case represents a unique twist on the age-old battle between artist and label, with Universal telling the sisters to take up their case with a company that has long-since ceased to exist. The record company has steadfastly maintained it has never had a contract with the sisters themselves, and the dispute is really between the Jacksons and Mums Records. Meanwhile, the statute of limitations for any claim the group might have has already run its course anyway, the company claims.

"Not only did the Jackson sisters delay filing this lawsuit for over 30 years, but when they did finally file it, they sued the wrong party," the company said in a statement. "UMG has no contractual relationship with The Jackson Sisters and thus expects to be vindicated in court."

The two sides are scheduled to face off in Los Angeles County Superior Court in late February, when Judge Ann Jones will hear the defense's request for summary judgement on those grounds.

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Robert levins / Daily Journal    
The Jackson Sisters singing group, working through a song at their Los Angeles studio. From left, Jacqueline Rencher, Lynetta Coleman, Gennine Francis, Pat Smith and Linda Jackson.    

Read the full article at:
www.jjllplaw.com/jackson-sisters

News and MediaJanuary 2009

Higgins trust sues Hirsch over '9 to 5'

Lawyer accused of malpractice, breach of duty

By DIANE GARRETT

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The trust representing the late writer-director Colin Higgins has sued attorney Barry Hirsch for failing to properly represent
his interests in the "9 to 5" stage musical.

Colin Higgins Prods. filed suit on Jan. 14 against Hirsch and his law firm in L.A. County Superior Court, accusing Hirsch of legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty. The trust seeks damages to be determined in a jury trial.

Among the many charges in the filing: Hirsch failed to adequately secure Higgins' rights to a live stage show from Patricia Resnick, the original scribe for the movie, and failed to advise the trustee in 2006 that the firm was representing Resnick at the time she was writing the book for "9 to 5: The Musical."

When the trustee asked how such a musical could be mounted without stage rights from Higgins Prods., Hirsch supposedly stated, "It may not be ethical, but it is legal."  According to the suit, Higgins, best known for penning "Harold and Maude," inked his deal with Fox to rewrite Resnick's "9 to 5" screenplay in 1979. Hirsch represented the writer-director and his shingle on various entertainment matters, including that contract
Before Higgins died in 1988, his legal team created a trust in his name. In 1992, the lawsuit states, Hirsch declined to rep the trust in future projects, including a potential stage musical of "Harold and Maude," but did not terminate rights to old deals, including that for "9 to 5."

According to the suit, the trust did not receive a copy of the original writer deal until June 13, when its lawyers,
Neville Johnson and Douglas Johnson of Johnson & Johnson, LLP obtained it from Fox. It was only then that the trust discovered that Hirsch's firm represented Resnick on the "9 to 5" musical and promptly severed its dealings with Hirsch's firm over the work.

Attorneys subsequently discovered that Hirsch and his legal team never properly secured Higgins' stage rights from Resnick. Higgins, the suit states, made significant contributions to the project with his writing and direction.

However, he did not receive "appropriate" credit for its debut. The trust has not received any compensation for the tuner, for which
Dolly Parton wrote the music and lyrics.  Click for original movie poster.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117998843.html

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Dolly Parton

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January 16, 2009

MOVIES / COURTS

Kerkorian Ex-Wife's Attorney Files Suit


By ALEXA  HYLAND
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Douglas L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
“Attorney-client conversations with his client were recorded, and we heard those tapes come out in the Pellicano trial,” Douglas Johnson said.

One of the divorce lawyers who represented the ex-wife of Kirk Kerkorian in her bitter child support battle with the billionaire filed suit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that his conversations with Lisa Bonder Kerkorian were illegally wiretapped.

Jeff Sturman, who represented Bonder Kerkorian alongside attorney Stephen Kolodny, filed the suit against casino mogul Kerkorian, jailed private sleuth Anthony Pellicano, convicted entertainment attorney Terry Christensen, and the Century City law firm Christensen founded, Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs & Shapiro LLP. Telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. was also named in the suit.

Douglas Johnson, an attorney representing Sturman, said evidence from the recent criminal trials against Pellicano and Christensen revealed that his client’s conversations with Bonder Kerkorian were illegally recorded.

“Attorney-client conversations with his client were recorded, and we heard those tapes come out in the Pellicano trial,” Johnson said.

Patricia Glaser, a partner at the Glaser Weil firm representing Christensen and the firm, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Dan Marmalefsky, Kerkorian’s attorney, declined to comment and said his client had not been served with suit.

In December, a federal judge sentenced Pellicano to 15 years in prison over the wiretapping of Bonder Kerkorian, and his role in an illegal racketeering enterprise that wiretapped stars such as Sylvester Stallone.

A federal judge sentenced Christensen to three years in prison and fined him $250,000 in November for conspiring to illegally wiretap Bonder Kerkorian. Federal prosecutors alleged that Christensen, a longtime attorney and friend of Kerkorian, hired Pellicano to gain an edge in the child support fight.

The government’s prosecution of Pellicano and Christensen has turned into a small industry for lawyers. At least 15 lawsuits related to Pellicano are pending in Los Angeles Superior Court.

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Lisa Bonder Kerkorian, ex-wife of automotive and entertainment billionaire Kirk Kerkorian.

In '83 she beat Chris Evert Lloyd in the semis of a tournament in Tokyo, leading Evert Lloyd to gush, "She's lethal from the baseline."

April 4, 2008 - Monica Zsibrita, represented by Beverly Hills attorney Douglas L. Johnson, appeared on ABC News Nightline relating to comedian Chris Rock and the infamous Anthony Pellicano Hollywood trial.

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January 16, 2009 in print edition E-1

MOVIES / COURTS

Ledger plays a role in lawsuit

Trial is set for next month in a case over a video
that shows the late actor with what appears to be cocaine.

Neville  L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

My client wishes to have privacy.
This is not a good thing to have happen to you,” the lawyer,
Neville Johnson, said.

In the year since his death, Heath Ledger has become a sainted figure in Hollywood, reverently recalled for his superior talent and good humor. The foreign press genuflected before his memory Sunday with a Golden Globe for his acclaimed performance as the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” and many expect an Academy Award nomination to follow next week.

But in a drab downtown courtroom, a decidedly less glowing portrait holds sway. An unusual lawsuit pitting a freelance magazine reporter against her ex-lover, his colleague and the paparazzo agency that employed them centers on a video of Ledger on a night he may have counted among the most disturbing of his life.

The video, shot in the Chateau Marmont after the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards, shows the actor twitching, exhausted and seated at a table marked with what appear to be lines of cocaine. Unaware he is being recorded or that his companions in the hotel room are a tabloid photographer and reporter, Ledger speaks candidly about private subjects, including long-term drug abuse and his relationship with actress Michelle Williams.

I’m in serious [trouble] with my girlfriend,” he says. “We just had a baby two months ago, and I’m not supposed to be here.”

The video’s release in the wake of Ledger’s Jan. 22, 2008, death from an overdose of prescription medication created an uproar. “Entertainment Tonight” bought rights to the video but decided not to air it in the wake of intense pressure from Ledger’s publicist and celebrities who decried it as tasteless exploitation.

heath-ledger-joker.jpg (4086 bytes)The case, set for trial next month in Los Angeles Superior Court, does not concern damage to Ledger’s reputation – his privacy rights died with him – but rather alleged harm to the reporter, whose conversation is captured on the video. She claims she was duped in- to being filmed and then assured the tape would be destroyed. Identified in court papers as “Jane Doe,” the reporter is suing the paparazzi and their agency, Splash News, for invasion of privacy, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other claims.

She seeks destruction of the video, which is available for viewing online, as well as financial compensation. Her suit claims the video earned Splash $1 million.

April 11, 2008 - A former People magazine freelance reporter listed as "Jane Doe" and represented by Beverly Hills attorney Douglas L. Johnson, has filed a lawsuit against Splash News photo agency and two paparazzi for invasion of privacy for secretly filming her without her permission while filming actor Heath Ledger in a hotel room where drugs were being taken. International news releases report on the lawsuit.

Ledger’s death changed the way everyone involved saw the evening. The reporter contributed her memories to a cover story in OK magazine, where she was quoted as an unnamed source with firsthand experience of Ledger’s drug use. She billed the magazine her $400 day rate, according to court papers. Soon after, Splash offered the tape for sale.

In her deposition, the reporter drew a distinction between her conduct and what the Splash employees had done. “If you bring up someone to have a chat in a room as friends, and, you know, they have a cocaine problem, and then you give them more of their drug of choice … that’s pretty devious. That’s intentional. That can kill the person,” she said.

Selling the story, however, was permissible because “he had passed.”

It was coming out all over. There was nothing to protect,” she said.

Munn and Banks still work for Splash, but the reporter no longer writes for People. Her attorney declined to say what she is doing now.

My client wishes to have privacy. This is not a good thing to have happen to you,”
the lawyer,
Neville L. Johnson, said.


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News and Media -  Privacy

 

Champions of Justice Radio Show

with Thomas V. Girardi

MP3 audio from KRLA 870 AM
August 2, 2008, 5:00 - 6:00 PM

"Let me tell you a little bit about Neville Johnson. He ranks with Brandeis and Warren as the great defenders of privacy ..."

- Thomas V. Girardi
Girardi & Keese
Los Angeles

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Thomas V. Girardi

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Louis D. Brandeis

Special Dedication in Privacy Torts

To Neville L. Johnson, of Johnson and Johnson, LLP, Los Angeles, California, who has led the charge, often successfully (and always creatively and with great passion) in exposing some of the worst outrages of media newsgathering. Neville ranks with Brandeis and Warren as the great defenders of privacy. All America is in his debt.

- David A. Elder

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David A. Elder

Establishing Constitutional Malice For Defamation and False Light Privacy Claims

by David A. Elder, Neville L. Johnson

David A. Elder - Regents Professor and Professor of Law at Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University and the author of the treatises The Law Of Privacy and Defamation, A Lawyer’s Guide. Professor Elder was a co-author of the appellant’s briefs to the California Supreme Court in Sanders v. ABC, Inc., 978 P.2d 67 (Cal. 1999), and was a co-author with Neville L. Johnson of an amici curiae brief in Shulman v. Group W. Prods. Inc., 955 P.2d 469 (Cal. 1998).

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April 2002

"The Right To Privacy"
by Samuel Warren and
Louis D. Brandeis
Harvard Law Review
Vol. IV, No. 5
December 15, 1890

 

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News and Media -  Interviews & Reports

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The 100 most influential attorneys in entertainment

July 23, 2008

Neville L. Johnson, a former journalist, often takes the media to task for questionable news-gathering tactics, such as the use of hidden cameras or undercover reporters. (Professor David Elder's treatise of privacy law is dedicated to Johnson.) This year the plaintiff-side litigator took on SAG, the WGA and the DGA over the millions he alleges are owed to guild members from the collection of foreign levies. The DGA settled, working out an arrangement in which an accounting firm will conduct an independent review of its foreign levies program. And Johnson was a familiar face at the Anthony Pellicano trial because he reps several alleged victims of Pellicano's web in civil cases, including the estate of the late producer Aaron Russo.

Douglas L. Johnson, JJLLPLAW, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Douglas L. Johnson

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Super Lawyers Magazine

Southern California 2008 Rising Star

Douglas L. Johnson selected as Southern California 2008 Rising Star at superlawyers.com,
July 1, 2008

Practice areas: Intellectual Property Litigation, Entertainment & Sports, Business Litigation

Douglas L. Johnson is a partner at Johnson & Johnson, LLP. He specializes in entertainment, business, and class action litigation. Mr. Johnson has handled numerous high-profile and wide-reaching litigation, including music and movie royalty disputes, rights of privacy, defamation, partnership disputes, breach of contract, and class actions.
Johnson & Johnson, LLP has certified numerous class actions, including one this year against the Writers Guild of America for nonpayment of foreign royalties. Mr. Johnson's recent significant wins include a $10 million arbitration in a partnership dispute, a multimillion-dollar settlement in a breach of fiduciary duty case, along with a million-dollar jury verdict in a copyright case. This is Douglas Johnson's third consecutive year on the Rising Stars list.

Selected to Super Lawyers - Southern California Rising Stars 2008, Southern California Rising Stars 2007, Southern California Rising Stars 2006

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Hidden Camera Deception

MARK SANDERS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANIES, INC., et. al, Defendants and Appellants. NARAS F. KERSIS Plaintiff, v. CAPITAL CITIES/ABC, INC., et. al, Defendants.

"ABC's Stacy Lescht secretly videotaped these conversations with a "hat cam," i.e., a small camera hidden in her hat; a microphone attached to her brassiere captured sound as well. ..." COUNSEL:  Johnson & Rishwain, Neville L. Johnson, Brian A. Rishwain; and David A. Elder for Plaintiff and Appellant.

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Beverly Hills attorney Neville L. Johnson comments on International Privacy in World Media Law Report, a daily email service that provides Newsletter Updates on copyright developments from over 50 jurisdictions and is written by a panel of 120 leading copyright lawyers from both national and international law firms or senior lawyers in industry and private practice, as well as government and regulatory officials.

International Privacy Report

By Neville L. Johnson
October 4, 2008

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) – which comprises the seven largest IP interest groups in the United States, including the Association of American Publishers, the Entertainment Software Association, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America – has issued its latest report on piracy and market access problems.  ...  the bad news is that piracy continues to be rampant.

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2008 IP Lawyers Summary of Entertainment Law
for the USA

By Neville L. Johnson
September, 2008

Wolf v. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, Tiffany (NJ) Inc. v. eBay, Inc, Christoff v. Nestle USA, Inc., JA Apparel Corp. v. Abboud, Derek Andrew, Inc. v. Poof Apparel Corp., Marathon Entertainment, Inc. v. Blasi, Yari v. Producers Guild of America, Inc., Nygard, Inc. v. Uusi-Kerttula, Comedy Club Inc. v. Improv West Associates, Webb v. Directors Guild of America, Richert et al. v. Writers Guild of America west, Osmond v. Screen Actors Guild ...

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Suing the media, supporting the First Amendment:
the paradox of Neville Johnson
and the battle for privacy

By Robert D. Richards and Clay Calvert
Albany Law Review, June 22, 2004

Johnson is the man to whom many plaintiffs now turn when it comes to suing the media. Perhaps only Atlanta-based attorney L. Lin Wood--who represents Carolyn Condit's husband Gary in his defamation suit against writer Dominick Dunne - can rival Johnson as the go-to attorney for plaintiffs seeking redress for disparaged reputations and privacy invasions.

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A Conversation with Attorney Neville Johnson

By Mark Holden

Composers royalty rights, PRO ASCAP BMI SESAC

"The first thing that composers should do is get organized. And it's a terribly important time right now because of all the legislation that is imminent and necessary because of Internet delivery.  ... Composers should be rallying and asking to be paid for all sales of audiovisual product no matter where they're sold. ... And the legislators are the key." - Neville L. Johnson

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Caught in the Act

Los Angeles Lawyer - Entertainment Law Special Issue

The widespread use of new technologies in news gathering has placed the First Amendment rights of the media on a collision course with the privacy rights of individuals.

 

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News and Media -  Videos

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Insider Exclusive Show Series
With Steve Murphy
insiderexclusive.com/firm_Johnson.htm

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News and Media2008

 
SAG facing 'Money' allegations

Misconduct complaint filed against program

By DAVE MCNARY
Variety

December 2, 2008

SAG's "Get Your Money" program is a sham, according to a misconduct complaint filed against SAG president Alan Rosenberg and secretary- treasurer Connie Stevens.

Los Angeles attorney Neville L. Johnson is representing the plaintiffs (Ken Osmond, Jack Klugman, William Richert) in all three cases.

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SAG to pay $25 million in unclaimed residuals

SAG says 'Get Your Money'

By DAVE MCNARY
Variety

October 29, 2008

SAS to now pay $25 million in "unclaimed residuals" it hasn’t given to more than 66,000 people.

Los Angeles attorney Neville L. Johnson is representing the plaintiff Ken Osmond.

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SAG to pay "unclaimed residuals" to
relatives of Alan Ladd and others.

SAG moves to settle suit

Talks begin over foreign tax revenues

By DAVE MCNARY
Variety

September 15, 2008

SAG is quietly moving to settle a lawsuit over how it disburses millions of dollars from foreign tax revenues to actors.

Los Angeles attorney Neville L. Johnson is representing the plaintiffs (Ken Osmond, Jack Klugman, William Richert) in all three cases.

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Writers Guild of America Settles With Non-Union Directors Over Foreign Levies

By Cortney Fielding
Daily Journal Staff Writer dailyjournal.com

September 15, 2008

The settlement will result in a disbursement between $2 million and $7 million in collected fees to the plaintiffs, pending an audit, said Webb's attorney, Neville L. Johnson of Johnson & Johnson, LLP. "This is money these directors never would have seen otherwise," he said. "The settlement brings accountability and transparency to DGA's foreign levies program."

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Jack Klugman Sues Over "Quincy, M.E."

NBC Uni Claims $66M Losses

March 28, 2008

Jack Klugman, Quincy, M.E., represented by Beverly Hills attorney Neville L. Johnson, files complaint in L.A. Superior Court against NBC Universal to exercise his right to audit the popular TV series.

Jack Klugman Says "I want my money!"

April 2, 2008

Jack Klugman, Quincy, M.E., represented by Beverly Hills attorney Neville L. Johnson's client, tells Nikki Finke, DeadlineHollywoodDaily, “I don’t want their money. I want my money."

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William Webb receives settlement from Director's Guild of America

April 14, 2008

William Webb, represented by Beverly Hills attorney Neville L. Johnson, receives settlement from Director's Guild of American (DGA) of 2006 lawsuit for non-payment of foreign tax collections. DGA will now have a registration function on its website and an outside independent auditor. Webb's attorney, JJLLP partner Neville L. Johnson, said in a statement, "This settlement brings accountability and transparency to the DGA's foreign levies program, and assures that nonmembers will have full disclosure of the DGA's distribution of foreign levies."

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Ken Osmond Benefits from Judge's Ruling on SAG

March 19, 2008 - Ken Osmond, Leave it to Beaver, represented by Beverly Hills attorney Neville L. Johnson, benefits from U.S. District Court ruling that SAG has limited his right to recover money collected from foreign tax revenues intended to benefit the copyright holder.

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Secret SAG agreement for half the money!

By Sharon Waxman
March 20, 2008

Ken Osmond, Leave it to Beaver, represented by Beverly Hills attorney Neville L. Johnson, according to Sharon Waxman, WaxWord, may be a victim of a secret agreement between SAG and the studios.

A lawsuit against SAG by actor Ken Osmond hasrevealed the existence of a secret 2002 agreement over half the money!

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Beaver' actor sues SAG

By Leslie Simmons
The Hollywood Reporter

Sept 19, 2007

For share of $8 million in foreign residuals

"The suit echoes nearly identical proposed class-action suits filed during the past two years by Osmond's attorney, Neville Johnson, against the DGA and WGA. ..."

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Eddie Haskell Sues Screen Actors Guild
www.tvsquad.com/2007/09/19/eddie-haskell-sues-screen-actors-guild

by Bob Sassone
TV Squad

Sepetmber 19, 2007

"... He says that SAG has collected more than $8 million from foreign residuals but has not shared that money with SAG members and non-members. Osmond's attorney has also filed suits against the Directors Guild and the Writers Guild over the past few years. It could be a class-action suit if others join in. Osmond says that SAG will not show him their books. ..."

Tags: directors guild, eddie haskell, jerry mathers, JerryMathers, ken osmond, leave it to beaver, sag, screen actors guild, ScreenActorsGuild, tony dow, writers guild

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Alleged illegal "Service Charge" on models

Entertainment Law Digest
March 1, 2008

Federico Galavis, professional model, represented by Beverly Hills attorney Nicholas A. Kurtz, has filed class action lawsuit against L.A. Models for alleged illegal "Service Charge" on models.

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www.hollywoodreporter.com

Did the Coreys Make a 'Secret Side Deal' for Reality Show?

June 25, 2008

Posted by Matthew Heller
The Hollywood Reporter, ESQ. blog

Case: Pullano v. Haim, Case No. BC393051 (Los Angeles Superior Ct.), filed June 20
Claims: Breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition, fraud, interference with economic advantage

Allegations: Plaintiffs are successful writers and producers of reality TV programming who "created an original concept and idea" for a show about the relationship between '80s teen idols Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. After entering into an agreement with Haim, they pitched the idea to ABC Television development executive Greg Goldman. ABC declined to buy "The Coreys" but the Coreys, Goldman and other defendants including reality producers RDF "agreed to a secret side deal" that excluded Plaintiffs, ignored their rights and resulted in the purchase of the show by A&E Television Network.

Filing attorney: Douglas Johnson, Johnson & Johnson, Beverly Hills

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Courthouse News Serice
www.courthousenews.com

New Complaint - Dr. Quincy

L.A. Superior Court BC38819
Jack Klugman; Sweater Productions Inc.
v.
NBC Universal Inc; Does

Cause of action: Declaratory relief
Filing counsel: Douglas Johnson, Neville Johnson and Nicholas Kurtz of Johnson & Johnson (Beverly Hills, Calif.)

Award-winning actor Jack Klugman, best known as Dr.Quincy M.E. on the television show "Quincy M.E.," claims NBC may still owe him profits from his work on the late-1970s series, but refuses to provide a copy of his contract.

In his lawsuit against the broadcast company, Klugman claims that he and co-plaintiff Sweater Productions Inc. signed a deal in 1976 with NBC, which agreed to pay Klugman 25 percent of all net profits from the show for playing the lead role.

The agreement stipulated that NBC would provide proper accounting of the profits, and that Klugman and Sweater Productions could audit the records in the event of a dispute, the lawsuit claims.

Klugman says NBC may have been shortchanging him, "as the series may have produced more revenue than expenses incurred, thus generating net profits," but that he will never know until NBC produces a copy of the contract.

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Legal Victory Enforces Indie Artist-Producer’s Rights

By Beth Ann Lerch

Los Angeles, CA -- Leading artist rights advocates and music attorneys are buzzing about the implications of the recent legal victory of recording artist Suzanne Doucet, president of Los Angeles-based Only New Age Music, Inc. over Portland, Oregon-based distributor Allegro Corporation.

Doucet’s trial lawyers were Neville Johnson and Douglas Johnson.

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Entertainment Law Digest
www.entlawdigest.com

New Complaint - Pellicano

L.A. Superior Court BC388664
Michael Gerbosi
v.
Anthony Pellicano; Pacific Bell Telephone Co. dba AT&T California; Robert Pfeiffer; Alan Weil; Gaims Weil West & Epstein LLP; Does

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Causes of action: Unlawfull wiretapping; unlawfull eavesdropping; common law intrusion; constitional invasion of privacy; negligence; negligent supervision

Filing counsel: Douglas Johnson, Neville Johnson and Nicholas Kurtz of Johnson & Johnson (Beverly Hills, Calif.)

Notorious celebrity snoop Anthony Pellicano has been accused yet again of conducting an illegal wiretap on the subject of one of his investigations.

Michael Gerbosi filed suit against Pellicano. attorney Alan Weil and the law firm of Gaims Weil West & Epstein, along with two other defendants, in state court in Los Angeles. Gerbosi claims that Pellicano improperly coerced employess of co-defendant Pacific Bell Telephone Co. to set up illegal wiretaps on Gerbosi's phone in order to monitor conversations between Gerbosi and a woman named Erin Finn.

Finn is the former girlfriend of record executive and co-defendant Robert Pfeiffer. She is also a neighbor of Gerbosi's who allegedly helped the FBI conduct an investigation of Pellicano, which resulted in numerous federal charges being brought against the tainted sleuth. In May, a federal jury found Pellicano guilty of 76 counts of racketeering, wire fraud, wiretapping and indentity theft.

According to Gerbosi, Pfeiffer was seeking information "to secure a tactical advantage" in litigation between himself and Finn. Gerbosi claims Pellicano instructed Pfeiffer to hire Gaims Weil West & Epstein in order to file suit against Finn.

The lawsuit further accuses the firm of knowingly using information gainedm from the illegal wiretaps in furtherance of their services to Pfeiffer.

Pellicano has a long history of ethically dubious behavior, with activities ranging to his association with notorious Mafioso Anthony "the Ant" Spilotro. He also spent 30 months in prison on federal explosives harges between 2004 and 2006. 

 

 


www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com

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