mickeymule
I want to keep going to Disney until it is too man
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2001
May 7, 2004 - (Adds material from Disney letter to judge)
The Los Angeles Judge who dismissed a widely watched royalty lawsuit over Winnie the Pooh in March had undisclosed ties to Walt Disney Co. <DIS.N> and should disqualify himself and reopen the case, the family that had sued Disney argued in court documents filed on Thursday.
Lawyers for Stephen Slesinger Inc., the family firm with U.S. merchandising rights to the honey-loving bear created by British author A.A. Milne, said in a motion filed on Thursday that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy had praised Disney as a "joyous" and "profitable" company in a book he wrote on innovation.
The Slesingers, who claim that Disney has short-changed them on millions of dollars in royalties over decades, also said that a former Disney lawyer had joined the judge's former law firm and worked on the Pooh case.
As a result of his ties and apparent bias in favor of Disney, McCoy should not have heard the case and should disqualify himself, vacating his judgment, the motion argued.
Disney's lawyers flatly denied that in a letter in response sent on to the judge on May 4 and obtained by Reuters.
McCoy took over the 13-year-old suit last last year and at the end of March dismissed it in a strongly-worded decision, saying the Slesingers had lied and stolen evidence.
A previous judge had ruled that Disney destroyed documents in the acrimonious case.
McCoy's decision was a major victory for Disney, which had said a loss could cost it hundreds of millions of dollars.
Slesinger in the Thursday motion argued that McCoy, who heads the complex litigation section of the Los Angeles Superior Court, should be disqualified because the former Disney counsel Louis Meisinger had begun to work at McCoy's former law firm, Sheppard Mullin, in February 2003.
Meisinger then consulted on the Winnie the Pooh case on Disney's behalf, Slesinger's lawyers said.
But Meisinger said in a declaration that he had not been working for the judge's former law firm when he was hired by Disney on the Pooh case.
Daniel Petrocelli, the chief lawyer arguing the case for Disney, also said in a letter to the judge that McCoy's former firm, Sheppard Mullin, had "played no role whatsoever in this litigation."
The judge himself had left the law firm in 1992 but had recused himself from cases involving the law firm in 1997 and 1998, the Slesinger brief said.
Petrocelli said in his written response that McCoy had left Sheppard Mullin so long ago that it was not a conflict of interest.
The Slesinger motion also argued noted that McCoy praised Disney in a book he wrote. In "Why Didn't I Think of That? Think the Unthinkable and Achieve Creative Greatness," published in 2002, McCoy called Disney "one of the most joyous and profitable places on earth," according to a phrase quoted in the motion.
"A person aware of these facts 'might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be impartial,'" Slesinger lawyer Ron Wasserman wrote in the motion filed on Thursday, asking that McCoy recuse himself or be disqualified, that his motion be vacated and that the case be reassigned.
A Disney spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Wasserman told Reuters the judge had 10 days to respond to the filing.
© Reuters 2004. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4919354/
The Los Angeles Judge who dismissed a widely watched royalty lawsuit over Winnie the Pooh in March had undisclosed ties to Walt Disney Co. <DIS.N> and should disqualify himself and reopen the case, the family that had sued Disney argued in court documents filed on Thursday.
Lawyers for Stephen Slesinger Inc., the family firm with U.S. merchandising rights to the honey-loving bear created by British author A.A. Milne, said in a motion filed on Thursday that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy had praised Disney as a "joyous" and "profitable" company in a book he wrote on innovation.
The Slesingers, who claim that Disney has short-changed them on millions of dollars in royalties over decades, also said that a former Disney lawyer had joined the judge's former law firm and worked on the Pooh case.
As a result of his ties and apparent bias in favor of Disney, McCoy should not have heard the case and should disqualify himself, vacating his judgment, the motion argued.
Disney's lawyers flatly denied that in a letter in response sent on to the judge on May 4 and obtained by Reuters.
McCoy took over the 13-year-old suit last last year and at the end of March dismissed it in a strongly-worded decision, saying the Slesingers had lied and stolen evidence.
A previous judge had ruled that Disney destroyed documents in the acrimonious case.
McCoy's decision was a major victory for Disney, which had said a loss could cost it hundreds of millions of dollars.
Slesinger in the Thursday motion argued that McCoy, who heads the complex litigation section of the Los Angeles Superior Court, should be disqualified because the former Disney counsel Louis Meisinger had begun to work at McCoy's former law firm, Sheppard Mullin, in February 2003.
Meisinger then consulted on the Winnie the Pooh case on Disney's behalf, Slesinger's lawyers said.
But Meisinger said in a declaration that he had not been working for the judge's former law firm when he was hired by Disney on the Pooh case.
Daniel Petrocelli, the chief lawyer arguing the case for Disney, also said in a letter to the judge that McCoy's former firm, Sheppard Mullin, had "played no role whatsoever in this litigation."
The judge himself had left the law firm in 1992 but had recused himself from cases involving the law firm in 1997 and 1998, the Slesinger brief said.
Petrocelli said in his written response that McCoy had left Sheppard Mullin so long ago that it was not a conflict of interest.
The Slesinger motion also argued noted that McCoy praised Disney in a book he wrote. In "Why Didn't I Think of That? Think the Unthinkable and Achieve Creative Greatness," published in 2002, McCoy called Disney "one of the most joyous and profitable places on earth," according to a phrase quoted in the motion.
"A person aware of these facts 'might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be impartial,'" Slesinger lawyer Ron Wasserman wrote in the motion filed on Thursday, asking that McCoy recuse himself or be disqualified, that his motion be vacated and that the case be reassigned.
A Disney spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Wasserman told Reuters the judge had 10 days to respond to the filing.
© Reuters 2004. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4919354/
