Michael J. Kump

Los Angeles

Litigation

Michael J. Kump has been making a mark on the legal community with numerous successes in the celebrity realm, whether it's contract or intellectual property disputes, defamation cases or anti-SLAPP motions.

"I've seen a lot more defamation cases in the past couple of years," said Kump, a founding partner at Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir LLP. "It's interesting because in all of my litigation now, almost every case we have always involves in some place and in some form an email sent by one of the parties."

In one of Kump's biggest defamation cases, he is representing Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, who has been sued by her half-sister over remarks made in the book, "Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family" and during the famous Oprah Winfrey 2021 televised interview.

The lawsuit was dismissed after oral arguments were heard (without prejudice on certain claims).

On the other end of the spectrum, Kump, who is representing actress Evan Rachael Wood, filed an anti-SLAPP motion against rock star Marilyn Manson after he sued her for defamation when she spoke out about the sexual abuse she endured during their relationship.

Wood is a domestic violence activist who testified before Congress and the California Legislature about her experiences, in addition to starring in a documentary, "Phoenix Rising," on her experiences. In granting Wood's motion this year, the judge found the allegations in Manson's complaint are matters of public interest, and that Manson failed to prove that his claims against Ms. Wood have even minimal merit.

"She had wanted to take legal action against him and found out that the statute of limitations had run," Kump said. "And so she spearheaded a movement in the California legislature to get the laws on statutes of limitations changed."

Wood was successful as the state has placed a brief moratorium on the statute of limitations in some cases.

"I think defamation cases are very, very difficult to prevail on and for good reason -- because it's important to protect people's First Amendment rights," Kump said.

Kump is also representing MRC Entertainment in a breach of contract action against actor Kevin Spacey, who was accused in 2017 of inappropriate conduct with crew members in the hit series "House of Cards." This was during the last season of the series, which was shortened when Spacey was terminated. MRC represented by Kump filed an arbitration against Spacey.

The company was awarded $30 million in the arbitration.

--Tori Richards