Legal

In mid-March, the three top former executives of the Perseus Books Group — ceo David Steinberger, cfo Charles Gallagher and cmo Rick Joyce — sued Perseus Books, LLC and Centre Lane Partners, the private equity company that had owned the publisher, in New York State Supreme Court. They are seeking payment of additional stay bonuses and membership share interests due that were to be based on the final “net sale proceeds” from the spring 2016 sales of Perseus Books to Hachette Book Group, and Perseus Distribution to Ingram Content Group. The case is before Judge Barry Ostrager, who had presided […]

Scott Rudin’s production company Rudinplay has countersued the estate of Harper Lee and its representative Tonja Carter in a New York Federal Court, as part of their response to the lawsuit filed against Rudin in March in an Alabama Federal Court looking for a judgment that the planned Broadway adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird departs from the spirit of the novel and alters two its characters, in violation of the license. Rudin’s lawsuit seeks to move the jurisdiction to New York, whose law governs the licensing contract, and asks for “an expedited determination” that the play does not violate […]

The forthcoming stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, scripted by Aaron Sorkin and produced by Scott Rudin, is slated to open on Broadway this fall. The production’s opening is now in question after Harper Lee’s estate — represented by Tonja B. Carter — sued Rudin’s production company Rudinplay in an Alabama Federal court, claiming that Sorkin’s script violates an agreement that “the play shall not derogate or depart in any manner from the spirit of the novel nor alter its characters.” Harper Lee licensed Rudin an option to produce a new stage adaptation of MOCKINGBIRD on June […]

Milo Yiannopoulos’s unintentional comedy show/performance piece known as his breach of contract lawsuit against Simon & Schuster, seeking $10 million, has come to an end. Playing the final, brief role of lawyer, representing himself, Yiannopoulos discontinued his lawsuit with prejudice (meaning this is final) in a filing posted to the docket Tuesday, and dated February 15 by the parties. Simon & Schuster said in a brief statement: “We are pleased that Mr. Yiannopoulos’ lawsuit has been withdrawn, with prejudice, and with no payment from Simon & Schuster. We stand by our decision to terminate the publication of Mr. Yiannopoulos’ book.”

Milo Yiannopoulos made his first appearance in court Thursday playing the role of his own attorney, with little success. So far, Judge Barry Ostrager is siding with defendant Simon & Schuster in allowing them to designate some of the materials in discovery as for “attorney’s eyes only” — and will not give Yiannopoulos access, regardless of his role. “Those documents frankly have nothing whatsoever to do with the substantive merits of your case,” Judge Ostrager said, noting they contain “proprietary financial information.” S&S used Milo’s own loose words in defending their need to keep certain documents away from him. He told […]