Michael Montfort v. Burda Publications
Published: Apr. 23, 1994 | Result Date: Mar. 16, 1994 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: BC084647 – $105,000
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Maurice J. Attie
(technical)
Theodore Vavoulis
(technical)
Facts
Plaintiff Michael Montfort, a 53-year-old professional photographer, delivered 70 original colored transparencies of Uschi Obermeyer, a German model, to Defendant Burda Publications at their request. The Defendants were to consider the items delivered for use in their publications, to use the same as they felt necessary and to pay for the same in accordance with a published pay rate. In any event they were to return the 70 originals after they had completed their use. The Defendant Burda Publications is a leading publisher of magazines in Europe with a Hollywood Bureau. This is the second lawsuit between the parties. In August of 1993, Plaintiff sought recovery of damages for the loss of 110 transparencies; that suit (published in the Daily Journal on January 21, 1994) resulted in a judgment in favor of the Plaintiff in the amount of $130,000 plus costs. This second lawsuit stems from a submission of transparencies in June of 1992. When the Plaintiff first realized that he was having difficulties collecting on his earlier loss, he modified his method of doing business with the Defendants and started including a damage provision on each submission invoice. He started placing the amount of $1,500 per lost original transparency on each invoice and did so on at least 15 occasions prior to the June 1992 loss. The Defendants acknowledged that they lost the transparencies and acknowledged that they had knowledge of the $1,500 loss provision on the invoice and agreed that they owed a reasonable value for the transparencies.
Settlement Discussions
Plaintiff contends they made a 998 demand of $90,000 and Defendants offered $60,000; the final pretrial demand of $75,000 was rejected by the Defendants despite Defense counsel's recommendation for acceptance.
Damages
Seventy original photo transparencies valued at $1,500 each for a total of $105,000.
Deliberation
1 hour
Poll
12-0
Length
2 days
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