Category Archives: Bet-the-Company Litigation

Ten-Year-Old ‘Perfect 10 v. CCBill’ Decision Withstands Test of Time

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June marked the ten-year anniversary of the trial court’s Perfect 10 v. CCBill decision, one of the earliest — and still one of the most important — decisions determining Internet Service Providers (“ISP’s”) liability for the content of third parties on hosted sites. I had the privilege of being part of the team representing CCBill in this bet-the-company case, accomplishing a win that helped establish the Internet as the ubiquitous place it is today.

The Internet has afforded astonishing new channels for lawful commerce as well as unlawful activities. Previously, to engage in widespread libel or infringement one needed access to print media.  read more

Spillane Trial Group Saves Pope Francis’ Favorite Film

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Fans of ‘Babette’s Feast’ Will Have Continued Access to The Film in Modern Media

The lawsuit to determine Spillane Trial Group client Josi W. Konski’s copyright ownership of Babette’s Feast, winner of the 1988 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, settled during trial this month. As a result, Konski’s rights to resume and expand upon his re-release of the film in Blu-ray and DVD formats were confirmed.  Konski agreed to pay royalties to the estate of Gabriel Axel, the late director of the film, pursuant to a modified royalty agreement.

Babette’s Feast received recent attention as Pope Francis’s favorite film.  read more

National Law Journal Discusses Restful Groups Multi-District Litigation Wins with Jay Spillane

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Fraud and misappropriation charges are always disruptive to a business, resulting in high-stakes litigation that can destroy a company before it even has its day in court. Spillane Trial Group client Restful Group Entities recently faced down such charges in multi-district, cross-country litigation that not only had the client praising the quality of their representation but also attracted the attention of the National Law Journal, which wrote about the litigation as a case study of how to handle such “bet-the-company” cases.

Legal writer Amanda Bronstad asked Jay Spillane, among other queries, to describe the complex proceedings.

“Including the two bankruptcies, there are seven actions that we’re handling,” said Spillane. read more

Spillane Trial Group PLC Restores Peace to Cemetery Client Restful Groups

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LOS ANGELES, September 21, 2013 – Spillane Trial Group PLC achieved an unqualified series of victories on behalf of the Restful Group Entities, and managers Barry Seidman and Steven Pearl, in a cross-country series of cases asserted by disgruntled investors. The rulings from three separate forums – a Los Angeles arbitration, Southern California bankruptcy court actions and a Fairfax County, Virginia Circuit Court proceeding – exonerated the company and its principals of all claims of fraud, mismanagement and breach of fiduciary duty. Earlier this year, Spillane Trial Group successfully set aside a writ of attachment where one of the investors had attempted to seize the Restful Entities’ assets prior to trial. read more

Spillane Trial Group Represents Producer in Dispute to Settle Copyright Ownership of Academy Award-Winning ‘Babette’s Feast’

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In April, Spillane Trial Group PLC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of Josi W. Konski against the Danish Film Directors association and Gabriel Axel, director of Babette’s Feast, winner of the 1988 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Konski is seeking declaratory relief to determine that he is the sole copyright holder to the film and that neither the Danish Film Directors nor Axel have rights to interfere with an anticipated re-release of the film in Bluray and DVD formats in the United States and Canada.

The defendants claim Axel retains a copyright interest in the film arising from a provision of Danish copyright law that expresses certain “moral rights” for authors of creative works.  read more

What We Learned in High School

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A fascinating and mysterious moment in a jury trial occurs at the very end, when the judge reads to the jury instructions summarizing the law that applies to the case. A trial lawyer has had years of legal education and law practice devoted to understanding how to apply law to fact, but s/he is not deciding the case. In a jury trial, it is the people in the jury box who must digest the facts presented at trial, understand the law that applies to the case and analyze what result to reach.

Unless a juror is an attorney, that juror’s entire legal education occurs at the end of the trial, when the judge spends some fifteen minutes reading the set of jury instructions, possibly in a monotone voice, with no question and answer session to follow. read more

Jay Spillane Speaks About His Trial Philosophy to Los Angeles Legal Newspaper

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jay_spillane_krav_mcgraw“When you’re representing a business executive who is facing financial ruin through litigation, and he tells you, literally, that you saved his life, that makes you feel like you’ve made a difference,” Spillane Trial Group’s Jay Spillane recently told the Los Angeles Daily Journal, which featured the firm on January 18, 2013.  Jay was referring to his representation of Ken Kilroy, former president of the Marvin Davis Cos., who after the death of billionaire Marvin Davis, was not only sued by one of his children for hundreds of millions of dollars but also denied his severance. Jay not only convinced his litigation opponent, represented by the David Boies firm, that they would lose their case against Kilroy and pay his legal fees, but also secured Kilroy’s severance in negotiations with the Davis family. read more

Spillane Trial Group Obtains Order Setting Aside Attachments

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This month, the Spillane Trial Group was victorious on behalf of clients the Restful Groups and Barry Seidman, convincing San Diego Superior Court Judge Lorna Alksne to grant a motion to set aside an attachment against our clients obtained by Stanley Westreich and his company, Chalant.

Without notice to our clients, Westreich/Chalant applied for and obtained a writ of attachment, which permitted Westreich/Chalant to seize assets prior to trial to secure payment on an anticipated judgment. The attachment was based upon promissory notes signed by the Restful Groups and Seidman. When The Restful Groups and Seidman were served with the attachment orders, we moved to set the attachment aside, showing the following:

  • that the signed notes were only temporary, demanded as a condition to contribution of money that Westreich/Seidman had already agreed to invest, and
  • that the money reflected in the notes would not be due until the investments of the Restful Groups – cemeteries in Mexico – produced profits with which to repay the investment.
read more

The Krav Maga Approach to Trials

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For several years now I have been a practitioner of Krav Maga, the official self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Force. In the Krav Maga system, students are taught to react to realistic threats with one or more simple and direct movements that hopefully will quickly end the encounter. The Krav Maga mantra: “No rules; no rituals; no nonsense; no excuses.”

Just after World War II, the fledgling Israeli nation asked Krav Maga founder Imi Licthenfeld to develop a system of self defense for its armed forces. Not satisfied with ancient forms of karate, still taught through centuries-old memorized rituals known as “katas,” Licthenfeld instead developed a simple and effective system of hand-to-hand combat that emphasizes instinctive movements, practical techniques and realistic training scenarios. read more

Plagiarism of Creative Works

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Courts in Los Angeles are frequently confronted with claims that an entertainment company has plagiarized a writer’s work. The word “plagiarize” means to use and pass off as one’s own the ideas or expressions of another. The legal rules that govern the dispute, the court in which the dispute will be fought and the success of the case will likely depend on whether the plaintiff claims that “ideas” on the one hand, or “expressions” on the other, were plagiarized.

When one writes a treatment or full teleplay or screenplay – technically, when that work is fixed in a tangible medium, such as on paper or saved on a drive – the copyright law protects unauthorized copying of the expressions in that work, but does not prevent independent creation of similar expressions. read more