David W. Rintels, Gideon Productions, Inc. and The WWII., Inc. v. Loeb & Loeb
Published: Jul. 6, 1996 | Result Date: Jun. 7, 1996 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: BC113899 – $4
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Lester G. Ostrov
(Lester G. Ostrov PC)
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Betty Beall
(technical)
Jerome J. Sussman Esq.
(technical)
Norman Horowitz
(technical)
Defendant
William Finnegan
(technical)
Susan G. Schaefer Esq.
(technical)
William Simpson
(technical)
Josh Elbaum
(technical)
Facts
The plaintiff, David W. Rintels, was an Emmy award-winning writer and producer. He wrote and produced a 4-hour mini-series entitled "World War II: When Lions Roared" which aired on NBC in April of 1994. (It was a story about the relationship between Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin and it starred Bob Hoskins, Michael Caine and John Lithgow.) In 1993, the plaintiff had been a client of the defendant law firm, Loeb & Loeb, for 20 years. The plaintiff claimed it was essential for him to obtain foreign distribution money from the sale of the movie between November 1993 and April 1994. Per the plaintiffs, the defendant law firm negotiated an agreement for the plaintiffs that did not have a payment schedule to ensure the timely arrival of the money from foreign sales. The plaintiffs claimed the defendant law firm failed to review the first draft of the foreign distribution agreement for two months and the error was not discovered. Per the defendant, the plaintiffs rejected a distribution agreement which would have provided an approximate $1.5 million advance (subject to other terms and conditions), and the plaintiff chose to enter into a sales agency (no advance) deal, where he knew no payments were guaranteed, but he could not territories for the lucrative co-production deals which the [plaintiff was seeking. The plaintiff however, ultimately could not obtain any co-production deals or financing from any other source and the sales and collections on the mini-series were much lower than anticipated. As a result, when the plaintiff allegedly learned that the foreign distribution money would not be delivered in a timely fashion, he had no choice but to withdraw from the agreement and sell the foreign distribution rights at a reduced price. Per the defendant, the plaintiff withdrew from the sales agency agreement and entered into a "guaranteed" deal with another distributor. The plaintiffs, David Rintels and his two production companies, Godeon Productions and WWII, Inc., brought this action against the defendant law firm, Loeb & Loeb, based on a professional negligence theory of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiffs made a settlement demand for $900,000. The defendant made a settlement offer of compromise for $200,000.
Specials in Evidence
$ ________ $ ________
Damages
The plaintiffs claimed the difference between the price for which the foreign distribution rights could have been sold ($2.75 million) and the price for which he did sell them ($1.35 million as damages).
Other Information
The verdict was reached approximately one year and eight months after the case was filed. Three settlement conferences was held. All failed to resolve the matter.
Deliberation
2+ days
Poll
12-0 (negligence); 11-1 (damages)
Length
20 days
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