PE Firm Sued Over Allegedly Botching $39M Hyatt Hotel Deal By Natalie Rodriguez Law360, New York (October 08, 2014, 3:31 PM ET) — Private equity firm Wheelock Street Capital LLC has been hit with a California state court suit that alleges it purposefully concealed the nonrenewal of a hotel’s Hyatt Hotels Corp. management contract in order to...Read More
In a unanimous published decision, the California Court of Appeal held that the County of Los Angeles’s process for entering into “social program agreements” does not violate the Brown Act. Every year, the County enters into contracts with social service organizations that provide vital services to County residents. These programs feed the homeless, provide medical...Read More
Universal Music Sues Over VH1 DJ Competition Series The third season of ‘Masters of the Mix’ allegedly used lots of unlicensed music By Eriq Gardner Universal Music describes a new lawsuit over VH1’s Masters of the Mix as a “cut-and-dry copyright infringement case,” but modest trappings aside, there’s a few reasons to pay attention to...Read More
On July 3, 2014, Judge Edmond E. Chang of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed plaintiff Ron Toma’s copyright complaint against the band Mötley Crüe for the lack of personal jurisdiction. Toma’s complaint stemmed from the band’s use of the famous “Belt Buckle Image” – the cover art of...Read More
LOS ANGELES — Attorneys for Patron Tequila and a former company manager told a judge today that they settled the executive’s lawsuit that alleged he was owed more than $70 million in unpaid bonuses before he was fired. Ajendra Singh sued Patron Spirits International Inc. and company co-founder John Paul DeJoria, maintaining he was largely...Read More
Louis ‘Skip’ Miller Why he matters: Miller isn’t strictly an entertainment litigator (he’s about to go to trial against Patron Tequila and reps the owner of NASCAR) but over the past 40 years has thrashed out a corner, especially in the music field, repping rockers such as Axl Rose, Steven Tyler and Mötley Crüe. He...Read More
After more than three years of litigation, a large bank with over $50 billion in assets obtained a defense judgment in its favor. A California Superior Court Judge held the bank was not liable for fraudulent inducement following a two-week bench trial. The plaintiffs alleged that, in September 2008, the bank fraudulently induced them to...Read More
Judge Tosses Suit Over Band Name Trademark Against UMG By David McAfee Law360, Los Angeles (April 25, 2014, 4:13 PM ET) — A California federal judge on Thursday threw out and infringement suit brought against UMG Recordings Inc. by a man who claims to own the trademark “Aliados De La Sierra,” which is the name...Read More
Calif. Panel Revives Fraud Claims Against Nissan Lender By Kurt Orzeck Law360, Los Angeles (January 17, 2014, 4:24 PM ET) — A California state appeals court on Thursday revived fraud allegations accusing lender Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. of promising financial support to California dealerships and then pulling the plug, finding a jury was blocked from hearing...Read More
January 3, 2014 by Eriq Gardner Mötley Crüe and drummer Tommy Lee have prevailed in a strange lawsuit that proposed that a drum stunt used on the band’s 2011 tour was taken from an onstage “rollercoaster” proposal 20 years earlier. The plaintiff in the lawsuit was Howard Scott King, who claimed that he had come up...Read More
