Legal Newswire Blog

Archive for the ‘Celebrity Justice’ Category

The National Enquirer is reporting that John Edwards is about to be indicted by a federal grand jury. Edwards has been under investigation by the Grand Jury for alleged misuse of campaign finances since April 2009.

Edwards, who has been in the media for his sexual scandal involving his mistress Rielle Hunter, is said to have illegally paid Hunter using campaign funds. Read Full Story

BURBANK, CA – With the latest shakeup at NBC over Jay Leno being restored to his old time slot at 11:35 pm, Conan O’Brien is refusing to perform The Tonight Show at 12:05 am. This begs the question as to what the legal ramifications will be.

Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien

It looks like NBC will get a boost in ratings with Jay back in his old time slot, but what about Conan? The blog, THR, Esq. has provided a viewpoint for each side – read the case for Conan O’Brien, and read the case for NBC. Even Reuters has an online analysis of the Jay Leno – Conan O’Brien – NBC case so it looks like there is no shortage of legal opinions on the topic.

The case for Conan has an argument that a jury would interpret his contract in light of his expectation that The Tonight Show would stay at 11:35 – which is entirely reasonable – especially in light of the fact that Conan agreed to wait five years in addition to giving up a huge payday from another network just to wait for the NBC 11:35 time slot to open up.

On the other hand, the case for NBC is counting on its contract language – which means “If the deal doesn’t say ‘The Tonight Show must air at 11:35′, then NBC is free to put the show wherever it darn well pleases.”

The problem with Conan O’Brien’s contract with NBC is that it doesn’t specify a time slot for The Tonight Show. Conan should be upset with his lawyers for that. In David Letterman’s case on his legendary move to CBS, his contract did specify a time slot, which is a big difference in the current situation.

What is your opinion?

LOS ANGELES, CA – Musician, Sammie Lee Smith filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Coldplay claiming that the British pop group turned songs he wrote into massive hits. Smith calls himself a “well-talented” yet “unknown” songwriter.

British pop group, Coldplay

In the lawsuit, Smith claims that he has recorded “approximately 100 tapes” each containing approximately 40 songs since 1976. He is suing the band for an undisclosed sum. The lawsuit alleges that he wrote the songs “Yellow,” “Clocks” and “Trouble” which the band then went on to turn into major hits.

Read the story at TMZ.com.

PERUGIA, Italy – American student Amanda Knox, 22, was found guilty by an Italian court on Friday of murdering her British roommate and was sentenced 26 years in prison.

Knox’s Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, also was convicted of the murder charges. He was sentenced to 25 years. Read full story

GENEVA – Roman Polanski’s bail of $4.5 M was approved by the Swiss Government Thursday. In turn Polanski will be placed under house arrest at his $1.6 million chalet in the Alps located in the exclusive resort of Gstaad.  In a recent statement, the Justice Ministry confirmed that Polanski will be transferred as soon as he posts bail.

Roman Polanski wins bail in Switzerland; remains under house arrest

Polanski’s chalet, named the “Milky Way”, is a beautiful chalet with a spectacular view of the surrounding Alps, including the pictureque Ruebli peak.

The court said Polanski would be subjected to “constant electronic surveillance” at his chalet and an alarm would be activated if he leaves the premises or takes off the bracelet.

“Polanski will be released from custody as soon as bail has been transferred, ID and travel documents have been lodged, and the electronic monitoring system has been installed and tested,” the statement said.

The bail does not affect the Justice Ministry’s pending decision on whether to extradite Polanski, 76, to the United States for having sex in Los Angeles in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

The bail decision was a major win for the Oscar winning director after a series of failed legal attempts to free him following his arrest on Sept. 26 when he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award.

Before Wednesday’s decision, Polanski offered a bank guarantee that would cause him to sacrifice his family’s home in Paris if he flees justice again.

“I am very happy and relieved,” Mathilde Seigner, Polanski’s sister-in-law told Le Parisien daily, adding that the director’s imprisonment had “enormous consequences on a psychological level” for his children. After Polanski’s release, “we’re going to drink a nice glass of Champagne and toast together,” she said.

According to the court, Polanski is still considered a high flight risk.

Reuters and AP contributed to this story.

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Robert Halderman’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, in an interview on CBS “The Early Show” yesterday, said David Letterman was offered a $2 million deal for first rights to a “screenplay” by his client, Robert Halderman. Shargel said it was a business transaction, the way Hollywood works, not extortion.

Gerald Shargel, attorney for Robert Joe Halderman. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

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Documents filed by Halderman’s lawyer claim David Letterman was having an affair with his former personal assistant, Stephanie Birkitt, much more recently than Letterman’s rep said.

The legal papers filed by the defense state that Robert Halderman confronted Stephanie Birkitt in December 2008 with evidence of the affair and she promised to end it. But Gerald Shargel, Halderman’s lawyer, claims the relationship continued “unabated” into this past summer.

Letterman’s rep has said the affair ended before Letterman’s marriage in March. Letterman came forward with the alleged extortion plot in early September.

Letterman’s attorney refused to say when the talk show host broke off his affair with Birkitt. Halderman’s lawyer did not elaborate about the sexual relationship and said he was looking forward to cross examining Letterman.

Shargel asked the judge to dismiss the extortion case, on grounds authorities were swept up in “the sensationalism surrounding the indictment” and the grand jury didn’t have enough evidence to target Halderman.

The lawyer claims the $2 million demand was “a pure commercial transaction” over a screenplay.

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Miami, FL – Retired NY Giants linebacker, Lawrence Taylor, was charged Sunday with leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, a second-degree misdemeanor, according to Miami-Dade County jail records. Police believe Taylor hit another car and then a guard rail and then drove away from the scene. We’re told no one was injured.

Lawrence Taylor, former New Yor Giants linebacker, arrested

Police report that Taylor was very cooperative when he was arrested and he was eventually released later that night on $500 bond. It was not known at the time if Taylor hired a lawyer.

Taylor has a history of substance abuse, but Miami police told TMZ that the NFL star looked completely sober when he was arrested late last night.

Police told TMZ that when they found Taylor, he was standing outside of his car which was missing a front tire. The tire was found at the scene of the crash which means Taylor may have driven several miles on just the axle.

Taylor, who has been arrested twice on drug-related charges in the past, was so coherent when he was arrested for hit-and-run last night, that officers didn’t feel the need to perform a sobriety test.

Taylor, recently competed and was eliminated before the finals on last season’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

Taylor is  also a spokesman for Nutrisystem.

Katherine Jackson changing probate lawyers

Michael Jackson’s mother wants to hire new lawyers and will ask the court for a continuance today when the hearing convenes so she can hire new lawyers.

TMZ spoke with Londell McMillan, who acknowledges Katherine is moving on and hiring new probate lawyers. McMillan says he was never Katherine’s probate lawyer, even though he was actively negotiating with lawyers for the estate.

McMillan tells TMZ, “I am not completely out.” He says he does not know if he is still Katherine’s general counsel and continues to represent her.

According to the Associated Press, attorneys for the administrators of Michael Jackson’s estate and Jackson’s mother also want a judge to clarify exactly what authority he has given two men over the singer’s estate.

Music executive John McClain and attorney John Branca were granted authority by the judge earlier this month to handle creditor claims and lawsuits against the estate. The dispute is over how the judge’s order should be worded.

L. Londell McMillan, who still represents Katherine Jackson, says his side will raise other issues during Thursday’s hearing. He says they want more accountability and will ask the judge to make the administrators more cooperative with information.

Nicolas Cage Owes IRS $6M

The IRS has filed liens against Nicolas Cage for more than $6 million in back taxes and he is now forced to sell off major assets and investments to try and pay off his back tax liabilities.

Cage has filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court against his former business manager, Samuel Levin. The lawsuit claims that over a period of seven years, “Levin placed Cage in numerous highly speculative and risky real estate investments, resulting in Cage suffering catastrophic losses.”  View lawsuit docs.

Cage also claims Levin failed to pay taxes when they were due. Cage claims it was only this year, after firing Levin, he learned “the gravity of his financial condition.”

Lawyer, Marty Singer, claims in the lawsuit that Levin never advised him of his financial situation and is guilty of “over-extending [Cage's] line of credit with banks and financial institutions.” The suit claims Levin concealed Cage’s “true financial condition prior to investments and assets being acquired by [Cage].”

Forbes reports that Cage earned $40 milion between June 2008 and June 2009.

Cage is asking for a minimum of $20 million.

TMZ contributed to this story.

Carly Simon Sues Starbucks

Carly Simon has hired big time lawyer, David Boies, in order to sue coffee magnate Starbucks for non promotion of her latest 2007 album This Kind of Love on their Hear Music label. The New York Times reports Simon claims Starbucks failed to properly promote her album as promised.

Simon blames Starbucks’ mismanagement for the record’s weak sales (which total 124,000 copies), claiming the company reneged on promises to prominently feature the record in stores and stock it in the thousands of Starbucks across the country.

According to Rock & Roll Daily five days before This Kind of Love was released on April 29th, 2008, Starbucks announced that they were “refining their entertainment strategy” and placed Hear Music, which counts Paul McCartney’s Memory Almost Full amongst its most successful releases, under the control of Concord Music Group, Rolling Stone reported last year. Simon believes that move resulted in the lack of promotion for This Kind of Love, an album that Simon had hoped would be successful enough that she could stop recording, the singer told the New York Times.

However, due to the album’s failure, Simon has been forced to continue her career, and now she’s struggling to find and pay producers in addition to other financial woes stemming from losses in the stock market and real estate troubles.

Simon also states that  Starbucks initially promised an advance of $750,000 to $1 million for the album, but after the contract was drawn up that figure was scaled back to $575,000. Simon says she fronted $100,000 to record This Kind, and alleges that she didn’t even receive the entirety of that advance. According to the New York Times, Simon is seeking between $5 and $10 million for Starbucks’ “concealment of material facts,” “tortious interference” and “unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices.”