Sandy Veith v. MCA, Inc. and Universal City Studios, Inc.
Published: Oct. 5, 1994 | Result Date: Sep. 26, 1994 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: BC072796 – $7,291,860
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Glen L. Kulik
(Kulik, Gottesman, Siegel & Ware LLP)
Defendant
Louis P. Petrich
(Ballard Spahr)
Experts
Plaintiff
Robert Schiller
(technical)
Allan Manings
(technical)
Ray Sackheim
(technical)
Defendant
Dixon Q. Dern
(technical)
Robert Blees
(technical)
Facts
Plaintiff Sandy Veith was a writer/producer who had worked for the Norman Lear organization Tandem Productions in the late 1970s writing episodes for series such as "The Jeffersons," "Good Times," and "Different Strokes." When Veith left Tandem he was offered an exclusive term development contract by Defendants MCA, Inc., and Universal City Studios, Inc., which began in 1981. Under the written contract, Veith was to attempt to create new television series for Universal which he would write and produce. The first project Veith worked on for Universal was "Coletta" based on an idea suggested by producer William Sackheim. Sackheim and Veith decided to jointly create and develop a television program; Veith wrote the story and teleplay in 1982. Several "backup" scripts were written which Veith supervised and developed. Universal first sold an option to NBC in 1982 and to ABC in 1987 to turn "Coletta" into a series. Ultimately both networks passed. Veith claimed that at the end of 1987, pursuant to a written agreement between Veith and Defendants, the Defendants agreed that they would not try to market "Coletta" any further without Veith's approval. "Coletta" was written as a 30-minute show. Plaintiff further claimed that Universal executives tried to convince Veith to turn "Coletta" into a one-hour show and that those same executives allegedly sold "Northern Exposure" as a one-hour show to CBS about 2 years later.
Settlement Discussions
Plaintiff contends that they demanded $2,000,000 and Defendants offered $200,000.
Damages
Plaintiff asked the jury to award $7,900,000 in compensatory damages.
Deliberation
3.5 days
Poll
12-0 on liability; 11-1 (per Plaintiff) 9-3 (per Defendants) on damage issues
Length
5 weeks
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