Entertainment & Sports Law

3rd Circuit to Decide Whether Lawyer’s $184M Suit over Jets Taping Can Go Forward

A New York Jets fan who is also a lawyer will get a federal appeals hearing today on whether his $184 million suit against the New England Patriots can go forward. The suit by Princeton, N.J., lawyer Carl Mayer contends the Patriots and their coach, Bill Belichick, deprived ticket holders…

Apr 14, 2010 12:35 PM CDT

Actors from ‘Slap Shot’ at Odds with Screenwriter Over Appearance Rights

Three hockey players who played the Hanson brothers 33 years ago in the comedy Slap Shot are still making professional appearances, to the consternation of the screenwriter. Nancy Dowd, who wrote the movie based on the real-life experiences of her brother, told the New York Times that she owns the…

Apr 13, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Ky. Cites Obscure Law in Suit to Recover Residents’ Online Gambling Losses

The state of Kentucky has sued the Full Tilt Poker website and other online gambling operations in an effort to recoup gambling losses—times three—for Kentucky residents. The suits rely on a state law that says gambling winners have no right to collect, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. Losers who pay anyway…

Apr 8, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Now Practicing Law, 2 Ex-NFL Players Have Won Some $100M in Football-Related Worker’s Comp Awards

An unusually liberal worker’s compensation system in California, as far as professional athletes are concerned, made the New York Times this week when the wife of former National Football League player Ralph Wenzel filed an apparently unique test case over early-onset dementia that she contends is related to her 67-year-old…

Apr 8, 2010 12:07 AM CDT

Tiger Woods’ Teacher Hires Gloria Allred, Seeks Retraction of Schoolyard Story

The woman who taught Tiger Woods’ kindergarten class has retained Gloria Allred to pursue a retraction from the now world-famous golfer of a story he told in a book about his first day of school, reports the New York Daily News. According to Woods, he first became aware of the…

Apr 2, 2010 7:50 PM CDT

Son of Former NYC Mayor Giuliani Loses Suit Over Duke U Golf Team Dismissal

A lawsuit filed by the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani over his elimination from the Duke University golf team has been dismissed by a federal judge in North Carolina. Andrew Giuliani failed to establish that there was an enforceable contract between himself and Duke, held U.S.…

Mar 30, 2010 10:14 PM CDT

Right to Name Minor League Stadium Will Cost Cooley Law School $1.48M

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School is paying $1.48 million over 11 years for naming rights to the stadium for a minor league baseball team called the Lansing Lugnuts. The Lansing State Journal had the story. The Lansing-based Cooley is the nation’s largest law school with about 3,600 students at…

Mar 26, 2010 12:57 PM CDT

Ex-Movie Producer-Turned-IP Lawyer Battles Disney in Superhero Fight

A lawyer who once made the low-budget film Zombie High has a new career as an intellectual property litigator now battling Disney on behalf of the heirs of a comic book artist. Lawyer Marc Toberoff “could be a movie character himself,” the New York Times reports. “Alternately described by lawyers…

Mar 23, 2010 11:20 AM CDT

Google: Viacom Uploaded to YouTube While Complaining About Infringement

In the opening briefs in a case between two media giants that is widely seen as a critical test of the Digital Milennium Copyright Act, each side accuses the other of playing dirty pool in a battle to call the winning shots concerning the use of video materials in the…

Mar 18, 2010 7:51 PM CDT

Ex-Model Files $10M Suit for Comedy Film’s ‘Lascivious Use’ of Her Photo

A former model who says she was horrified to learn her photo was used as a “masturbatory prop” in the comedy Couples Retreat has sued the movie makers for $10 million. The suit by Irina Krupnik says she didn’t learn of the “lascivious use of her photo” until after the…

Mar 12, 2010 2:11 PM CST

Letterman Blackmail Suspect Pleads Guilty, Gets 6 Months

Robert “Joe” Halderman, the former CBS producer charged with attempted grand larceny in a scheme to extort $2 million from David Letterman, pleaded guilty this afternoon. “I feel great remorse for what I’ve done,” Halderman said in court, according to Dow Jones. Halderman was accused of demanding Letterman pay him…

Mar 9, 2010 10:14 PM CST

Oscar Night’s ‘Lady Kanye’ Had Been in Legal Dispute with Director

One of the most talked about moments of Sunday night’s Oscars was the acceptance speech for the winners of the Documentary Short category. Cameras followed Music by Prudence producer-director Roger Ross Williams to the stage and he started his speech, but was cut off when co-producer Elinor Burkett zipped into…

Mar 8, 2010 9:13 PM CST

Quinn Emanuel Lawyer Protects Oscar IP and Theater Door

Quinn Emanuel partner David Quinto does double duty for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He protects trademarks and copyrights for the organization—and he’ll be protecting the awards ceremony on Sunday from gate crashers. Quinto talked to the Hollywood Reporter and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog about…

Mar 5, 2010 12:00 PM CST

Sgt.‘s Suit Says ‘Messed Up’ Character in ‘Hurt Locker’ Made Him Look Bad

A journalist who was embedded with his three-man unit during the Iraq war to write an article for Playboy, wound up making him look bad, a soldier says, by reworking it into a screenplay for The Hurt Locker that falsely portrayed him as a “messed up” bomb disposal officer. In…

Mar 4, 2010 7:46 PM CST

As Atom Bomb Book Raises Fact-Check Issue, ‘Hurt Locker’ Writer Is Accused of Too Much Truth-Telling

Accused of including fictitious information in his book about the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Japan during World War II, Charles Pellegrino is now seeing The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back withdrawn from publication—although it could still potentially be the subject of a movie. Meanwhile, the…

Mar 3, 2010 3:10 AM CST