Luv2Roam
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2000
- Messages
- 15,479
Disney asks court to dismiss "Pooh" lawsuit
Reuters, 02.03.03, 9:59 PM ET
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Media giant Walt Disney Co. (nyse: DIS - news - people) on Monday asked a Los Angles court to dismiss a lawsuit over royalties from "Winnie the Pooh," arguing that the company that holds rights to the character withheld vital documents and hired a convicted felon to steal from Disney's trash.
Disney's 40-page motion, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, asked Judge Ernest Hiroshige to dismiss the nearly 12-year-old lawsuit because of what Disney claimed was "pervasive misconduct and illegal activities" by Stephen Slesinger Inc., the holder of the "Pooh" U.S. rights.
"From the very outset of this case 12 years ago, (Slesinger Inc.'s) principals ... have intentionally and consistently withheld, manipulated, falsified and stolen evidence, and engaged in other criminal activities, all designed to achieve, and then cover up, their illicit objectives," Disney said.
Slesinger, which acquired the U.S. rights to Pooh from British writer A.A. Milne in the 1930s, has claimed it was shortchanged by Disney over royalties due under a 1983 deal, a case that Disney has said could cost it $200 million.
Bert Fields, an attorney for the Slesinger family, called Disney's filing "an act of desperation by a desperate company." Fields said Shirley Lasswell, widow of Stephen Slesinger, had been hospitalized after reading the motion.
"If I seem exercised, they made a personal attack on this lovely elderly lady, Mrs. Lasswell," Fields said. "I hold Disney responsible. They should be ashamed of themselves."
Disney's motion claims that Slesinger Inc. hid memos Pati Slesinger wrote to her mother, Mrs. Lasswell, about conversations she had with Disney employee Vincent Jefferds related to the licensing deal the parties signed.
Those memos, which Slesinger addressed to her mother with the salutation "Dear Mommie," contained details of conversations about royalties on videocassettes, a key element of the case.
'DEAR MOMMIE' MEMOS
But the "Dear Mommie" memos were not produced when the suit was filed and instead were offered up only after Jefferds and other negotiators of the 1983 agreement had died, Disney claimed.
The company said it would have retained Jefferds' papers if it had been aware of Slesingers' claims.
In November, a California appellate court ruled Disney would not be able to contest key evidence in the Pooh suit after it destroyed key documents in the case.
Among the issues Disney was barred from contesting by the appellate court was the evidence of the conversations between Slesinger and Jefferds about videocassette royalties.
Disney also said Slesinger had hired an unlicensed investigator, who in turned hired an ex-convict to enter Disney property and steal legal documents early in the legal skirmishing.
"Beginning in 1991 or 1992, (Slesinger Inc.'s) attorneys and Pati Slesinger's husband, David Bentson, hired an unlicensed private investigator, Terry Sands, to work on this case," Disney said.
"For at least the next four years, under the supervision of (Slesinger Inc.) and its lawyers, Sands and his criminal associates trespassed untold times onto the private property of Disney and its waste disposal contractors, and stole thousands of Disney documents," Disney said.
Disney said it received two anonymous tips in June 1994 alleging Sands and others "'broke in'" to Disney facilities to steal papers related to the Pooh case.
Disney claimed that in a Sept. 2002 deposition, Sands admitted to being assisted in the 1990s by his neighbor, Dale Holman Sr., an ex-convict, as he made searches of dumpsters at Disney facilities in Burbank, California.
But the company claimed that in fact, Sands and Holman broke into and searched Disney's facilities and stole documents, in some cases with the assistance of Holman's son Dale Holman, Jr., himself now a convicted felon.
"The event that they are screaming about happened eight years ago," Slesinger's attorney Fields said. "They never asked what documents were taken from their trash or complained. Now they pretend to be outraged." (With additional reporting by Peter Henderson)
Reuters, 02.03.03, 9:59 PM ET
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Media giant Walt Disney Co. (nyse: DIS - news - people) on Monday asked a Los Angles court to dismiss a lawsuit over royalties from "Winnie the Pooh," arguing that the company that holds rights to the character withheld vital documents and hired a convicted felon to steal from Disney's trash.
Disney's 40-page motion, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, asked Judge Ernest Hiroshige to dismiss the nearly 12-year-old lawsuit because of what Disney claimed was "pervasive misconduct and illegal activities" by Stephen Slesinger Inc., the holder of the "Pooh" U.S. rights.
"From the very outset of this case 12 years ago, (Slesinger Inc.'s) principals ... have intentionally and consistently withheld, manipulated, falsified and stolen evidence, and engaged in other criminal activities, all designed to achieve, and then cover up, their illicit objectives," Disney said.
Slesinger, which acquired the U.S. rights to Pooh from British writer A.A. Milne in the 1930s, has claimed it was shortchanged by Disney over royalties due under a 1983 deal, a case that Disney has said could cost it $200 million.
Bert Fields, an attorney for the Slesinger family, called Disney's filing "an act of desperation by a desperate company." Fields said Shirley Lasswell, widow of Stephen Slesinger, had been hospitalized after reading the motion.
"If I seem exercised, they made a personal attack on this lovely elderly lady, Mrs. Lasswell," Fields said. "I hold Disney responsible. They should be ashamed of themselves."
Disney's motion claims that Slesinger Inc. hid memos Pati Slesinger wrote to her mother, Mrs. Lasswell, about conversations she had with Disney employee Vincent Jefferds related to the licensing deal the parties signed.
Those memos, which Slesinger addressed to her mother with the salutation "Dear Mommie," contained details of conversations about royalties on videocassettes, a key element of the case.
'DEAR MOMMIE' MEMOS
But the "Dear Mommie" memos were not produced when the suit was filed and instead were offered up only after Jefferds and other negotiators of the 1983 agreement had died, Disney claimed.
The company said it would have retained Jefferds' papers if it had been aware of Slesingers' claims.
In November, a California appellate court ruled Disney would not be able to contest key evidence in the Pooh suit after it destroyed key documents in the case.
Among the issues Disney was barred from contesting by the appellate court was the evidence of the conversations between Slesinger and Jefferds about videocassette royalties.
Disney also said Slesinger had hired an unlicensed investigator, who in turned hired an ex-convict to enter Disney property and steal legal documents early in the legal skirmishing.
"Beginning in 1991 or 1992, (Slesinger Inc.'s) attorneys and Pati Slesinger's husband, David Bentson, hired an unlicensed private investigator, Terry Sands, to work on this case," Disney said.
"For at least the next four years, under the supervision of (Slesinger Inc.) and its lawyers, Sands and his criminal associates trespassed untold times onto the private property of Disney and its waste disposal contractors, and stole thousands of Disney documents," Disney said.
Disney said it received two anonymous tips in June 1994 alleging Sands and others "'broke in'" to Disney facilities to steal papers related to the Pooh case.
Disney claimed that in a Sept. 2002 deposition, Sands admitted to being assisted in the 1990s by his neighbor, Dale Holman Sr., an ex-convict, as he made searches of dumpsters at Disney facilities in Burbank, California.
But the company claimed that in fact, Sands and Holman broke into and searched Disney's facilities and stole documents, in some cases with the assistance of Holman's son Dale Holman, Jr., himself now a convicted felon.
"The event that they are screaming about happened eight years ago," Slesinger's attorney Fields said. "They never asked what documents were taken from their trash or complained. Now they pretend to be outraged." (With additional reporting by Peter Henderson)
