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Congratulations to our associate Michael Jacob, who just won a 5-day bench trial in front of Judge Kronstadt in Santa Monica. Mike handled the case from start to finish and much of his pre-trial work contributed to the trial win.
Facts: Our client is a 79 year old actress on
a popular daytime television soap opera. She has received a lifetime
achievement award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and she
recently won her first Emmy. She was sued by an unscrupulous former
business partner for breach of contract. At issue in the lawsuit
was Defendant's alleged breach of contract relating to providing
approval for the use of her name and likeness, and voiceovers in
connection with a product.
Defendant raised concerns regarding the quality of the product, and raised legal questions, including whether Plaintiff had rights to use background music and the images in the marketing materials. As a result, Defendant did not give her consent for the use of her name, likeliness and voiceovers. Defendant had previously filmed an infomercial regarding the product, and Plaintiff claimed Defendant would not have filmed the infomercial if she had not consented.
Plaintiff testified at trial that he obtained Defendant's final approval to sell the project and Defendant kept delaying because she wanted to buy him out. Plaintiff testified he would not have sold the project for less than $1,000,000.
Plaintiff frequently dealt with Defendant's assistant and increasingly resented her involvement, commenting that she "undermined his authority as a man." The assistant testified that in a conference call, Plaintiff called her a "bitch" and "cunt". Plaintiff testified that he loves his mother and respects women, and would never have called the assistant a "cunt." He then testified that he called the assistant a "bitch." Plaintiff's roommate testified that the assistant berated and provoked Defendant into using inappropriate language.
Procedural History: Plaintiff initially was pro
per. The first mediation was not productive and ended with the mediator
telling our client that she should fear for her safety. Plaintiff
obtained counsel the first business day after Defendant won her
Emmy, and the morning of an MSC before Judge Rosenberg. Plaintiff's
MSC demand was in the 7-figures. Plaintiff in pro per expressly
waived jury and the judge denied Plaintiff's request for relief
from the waiver at the eleventh hour before trial.
The trial lasted 5 days, including 1 day interrupted by earthquake. Reports are that Michael dove under counsel table while our 79 year old client laughed at him from the stand.
Judge: Judge Kronstadt was very easy to try a case
in front of. He seems to truly strive to get it right, though he
admitted some surprise evidence over Michael's objection. Our sense
is that he likely would not have admitted the evidence had this
been a jury trial. He later used the surprise evidence as a basis
to find a defense witness not credible. Overall, he seemed like
a no-nonsense judge who did not appreciate grandstanding or drama
from counsel. He did not like overly-aggressive crosses, and tempered
Michael's cross of the Plaintiff a bit. Judge Kronstadt accommodated
Michael's attendance at Jack Daniels' ABOTA Trial School for 3 days
during the trial. My favorite part of the trial was the look on
Judge Kronstadt's face when in response to his question asking Michael
why he needed to miss three potential trial days, Michael said,
"Uh, I'm going to trial school."
On Friday, September 19, 2008, he gave a long 20+ minute "tentative" ruling from the bench, including his assessment of the witnesses' credibility (finding our client and her assistant credible, and raising some credibility issues for the Plaintiff and his roommate). His ruling spelled out his analysis of the facts and that he felt Defendant's versions of the facts were more reasonable than Plaintiff's. He found that Plaintiff had not met his burden of demonstrating the existence of the contracts, that Defendant breached any contracts, and that the contracts' SOLs had run at the time of filing.
Plaintiff's Counsel: John Hebb, Esq. - John was
cordial and respectful throughout the proceedings. He came into
the action late and was stuck with some tough deposition admissions
that Michael obtained from his client.
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