President Joe Biden said he will nominate attorney Jonathan Kanter to run the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. As a private attorney, Kanter represented companies — including News Corp. — in legal actions against tech giants including Google and Apple. As the White House statement notes, “Throughout his career, Kanter has also been a leading advocate and expert in the effort to promote strong and meaningful antitrust enforcement and competition policy.” His boutique firm The Kanter Law Group “advocates in favor of federal and state antitrust law enforcement.” That appointment aligns with a sweeping executive order from the White House […]
Legal
Legal: Judge Denies Foundry Receiver
Following oral arguments, Judge Joel Cohen denied as moot, without prejudice, the motion to appoint a temporary receiver for Foundry Literary.
Brooks Sherman Sued The Bent Agency for Commissions; Bent Countersued for Gross Misconduct
This spring, agent Brooks Sherman filed a lawsuit against The Bent Agency and ceo Jenny Bent, alleging that they have refused to pay him commissions due. Sherman’s suit, filed in New York County on April 20, says that in April 2021 the agency “repudiated the commission obligation and failed to make a required periodic payment.” The suit estimates the potential future commissions at stake are “valued well in excess of $1.5 million over the next decade.” Sherman left the Bent Agency in 2017, but continued to collect commissions on work by authors including Adam Silvera, Becky Albertalli, and Angie Thomas. […]
Simon & Schuster Wins Libel Case, But Supreme Court Minority Wants to Overturn “Actual Malice” Standard
The Supreme Court let stand a verdict in favor of publisher Simon & Schuster and author Guy Lawson’s Arms and the Dudes: How Three Stoners from Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History (the basis of the movie War Dogs). Albanian Shkelzen Berisha had sued for defamation, but lower courts found he was a public figure with respect to stories about Albanian weapons-trafficking, and did not meet the high bar of showing that the author acted with “actual malice” in any alleged errors. That is the standard set in the significant 1964 Supreme Court decision, New York Times […]
Legal: Former Bonnier Books UK CEO Found In Contempt
Former Bonnier Books UK CEO Richard Johnson, fired in 2018 for what the company called gross misconduct, has now been found in contempt of court after threatening to release secret “evidence” against the company, the Bookseller reports. For months, Johnson failed to respond adequately to a January motion for injunctive relief after he threatened that he had “taped a lot of conversations with senior people in Bonnier over the years and the conduct and those tapes are as clear as anything.” Johnson was ordered to pay Bonnier’s court costs, and additional consequences are still possible. Johnson belatedly submitted a witness […]
Legal: Foundry Dispute Will Linger
Following a conference with Judge Joel M. Cohen earlier this week, the lawsuits between former Foundry partners Peter McGuigan and Yfat Reiss Gendell are scheduled for a lengthy process of litigation. Without ruling yet on any of the preliminary motions, the court set a discovery process that will end in late November, with motions for summary judgment due by January 3, 2022.