Legal Newswire Blog

Archive for the ‘Contract Law’ Category

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?

SEATTLE, WA – Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna filed suit against California Corporation, DirecTV over the company’s ‘unconscionable business practices.’ The AG’s office recieved hundreds of complaints this year alone. In fact, the number of complaints were ‘off the chart’ – 355 complaints so far this year.

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Customers respond to an ad saying that they can get 150 channels for 29.99 per month for 12 months. But in order to get this price customers must mail in a rebate form right away (within 60 days). If they don’t, then they will be charged a higher price. The contract with DirecTV is for 2 years. If customers cancel before 24 month period they get slapped with a $480 cancellation fee.

McKenna says that the terms and conditions are in the ads but you’d need a magnifying glass to read them because they are buried in the fine print at the bottom of the page.

Assistant Attorney General Paula Selis has been preparing this case for more than a year. She says you only get that $29.99 price if you mail in for a rebate, and only if you do it right away. But when customers miss the 60-day deadline she says that people lose the right to do that at all. If they don’t do it in 60 days then they don’t get the rebate price plus they they get the higher price for the full 24 months of their contract.

McKenna says that this is what they call unconscionable business practices, where you’re not treating your customers fairly, adding that “The contract is so one-sided that it shouldn’t be permitted under the law.”

The Attorney General wants to hear from DirecTV customers who are unaware that they could file a claim with the AG’s office. Customers can learn more about filing a complaint from their website: http://www.atg.wa.gov/FileAComplaint.aspx

Readers can view the court documents from this link: download the PDF

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Washington contract law attorney

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.”

Dan Rather Lawsuit vs CBS dismissed

Looks like Dan Rather’s lawsuit against CBS has come to an end.

According to Reuters Rather’s lawsuit against CBS  in which Rather claimed he was made a scapegoat in a scandal over a 2004 report on then-President George W. Bush’s military record, was dismissed by a New York state appeals court on Tuesday.

The ruling was made on Tuesday by a panel of judges of the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division who said Rather’s $70 million complaint should be dismissed in its entirety and that a lower court erred in denying CBS’s motion to throw out the lawsuit.

Rather sued CBS, parent of the CBS television network, Viacom and others in September 2007, claiming he had been made a scapegoat to “pacify the White House.” CBS was part of Viacom until the companies split in 2006.

Rather claimed in his lawsuit that CBS breached his contract by not giving him enough on-air assignments after he was removed as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005.

The appeals court ruled he failed to sufficiently support his claim that he lost business opportunities due to CBS’s failure to release him to seek other employment.

Looks like CBS lawyers did their job.

Washington Redskins

Last Oct. 8, the Redskins sued Pat Hill, a 72 year old grandmother, in Prince George’s County Circuit Court for backing out of a 10-year ticket-renewal agreement after the first year. In the lawsuit the Redskins sought payment for every season through 2017, plus interest, attorneys’ fees and court costs.

Due to hard economic times, loyal Washington Redskins’ fan, Pat Hill, from Alexandria VA., can’t afford to pay for her season tickets anymore.

Hill is a real estate agent and loyal fan of the Washington Redskins and has  had season tickets since the early 1960s.

Because Hill  could not afford a lawyer, the Redskins ended up winning a default judgment of $66,364.

Hill says, that the judgment is now forcing her into bankruptcy.

“It really breaks my heart,” Hill said. I don’t even believe in bankruptcy. We are supposed to pay our bills. I ain’t trying to get out of anything.”

According to the Washington Post, Redskins General Counsel David Donovan said the lawsuits are a last resort that involve a small percentage of the team’s 20,000 annual premium seat contracts. He added that the team has accommodated people in hard-luck circumstances hundreds of times.

“The Washington Redskins routinely work out payment plans and alternate arrangements with hundreds of ticket holders every year,” Donovan said. “For every one we sue, I would guess we work out a deal with half a dozen.”

Donovan said he was unaware of Pat Hill’s case.

Monroe College

Trina Thompson, graduate from Monroe College in the Bronx, NY has filed a lawsuit against the school for $70,000 tuition plus $2,000 for stress during her job search. Ms. Thompson graduated back in April, 2009 with an undergraduate degree in Business Administration with information technology. She claims that the school’s Office of Career Advancement did not assist her with finding a full-time job placement.

According to the story in The New York Post, “They have not tried hard enough to help me,” adding that she was also suing because of the stress she had been under. The story goes on further to say, “Thompson graduated with an undergraduate degree in Business Administration with information technology, and a 2.7 Grade Point Average. Now she says that her college should reimburse her for $70,000 in tuition fees and $2,000 for the stress of her job search. She also claimed that the careers office gave preferential treatment to students with higher grades.”

“She’s angry,” Thompson’s mother, Carol told the NY Post. “She’s very angry at her situation. She put all her faith in them, and so did I. They’re not making an effort.”

Ms. Thompson lives together with her mother. They say they are struggling to get by. Ms. Thompson’s mother, who works as a substitute teacher, has been the only breadwinner.

“This is not the way we want to live our life,” the mother states. “This is not what we planned.”

To make matters worse, as if being unemployed weren’t enough, Ms. Thompson’s student loans are coming due, saddling the family with more debt, the mother said.

“We’re going to be homeless, and we’ll still have a student loan to pay,” she said.

Monroe College insists it helps graduates in their careers.

“The lawsuit is completely without merit,” school spokesman Gary Axelbank said. “The college prides itself on the excellent career-development support that we provide to each of our students, and this case does not deserve further consideration.”

The college’s Office of Career Advancement advertises lifetime free service for graduates, and states on the school’s Web site: “We have many resources available for students at any stage of their college career, and even after graduation.”… “Whether preparing for a career or simply need a part-time job, the Monroe College office of Career Advancement provides expert advice and valuable services to help you.”

The College has emphasized that Ms. Thompson has only been looking for a job for three months. They released a statement, saying that “while it is clear that no college, especially in this economy, can guarantee employment, Monroe College remains committed to working with all its students, including Ms. Thompson, who graduated only three months ago, to prepare them for careers and to support them during their job search.”

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The scandal in Washington over millions of dollars in corporate bonuses paid last week on Wall Street refuses to go away. President Barack Obama’s recent show of anger over bonuses paid at insurance company AIG was undermined over the weekend by a revelation that his own treasury secretary was ultimately responsible for the mysterious disappearance of a clause that would have limited corporate bonuses.

Obama nevertheless supported Timothy Geithner in a TV interview on Sunday, saying his work wasn’t done yet and that he had no reason to heed growing calls for his resignation. “If he were to come to me, I’d say, ‘Sorry, buddy. You’ve still got the job,’” Obama said in the interview with TV newsmagazine 60 Minutes. “He’s got a lot of stuff on his plate. And he is doing a terrific job.”

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

“It’s not unusual for a incumbent politician to think of a tax hike as an ‘interesting activity’ — but it is unusual for her to say so in public. German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted with those words to a resolution by the US House of Representatives that could tax bonus payments for corporate managers, in certain circumstances, at a rate of 90 percent.”

“With that, an idea may now be introduced to German politics that will cause obvious legal problems and shake one bulwark of freedom in our economic system: the reliability of private contracts. Even if bonuses paid to managers of companies heavily supported by government funds might anger the population, they are still a part of legal contracts.”

“The bonus debate is a convenient distraction. It dominates public attention and hides other questions over what the new US government has actually achieved in the banking crisis.”

The conservative daily Die Welt writes:

“The AIG riddle was solved on Sunday evening. After a period of stonewalling, Treasury Secretary Geithner admitted that his department removed the bonus-limitation clause. Denying it would have been more expensive than paying out the bonuses, he argued. Now there are new questions: Did Geithner know the exact size of the bonuses from the start? Did he nevertheless torpedo the clause? And was Barack Obama informed about any of this?”

We are not in support of executives taking bonuses if they have failed.  Is  specifically target one group such as AIG executives and taxing 90% of AIG’s bonus income legal? Is it constitutional? Does contract law matter anymore?

Any thoughts?