Blog« back to blog homeSubscribe to RSS feed
Month: December, 2011
War Zone Security Guards Claim Breach of Employment Contracts
Category: News | Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 | Comments Off on War Zone Security Guards Claim Breach of Employment Contracts
A U.S. government contractor providing security guards at military bases and other sites in Iraq and Afghanistan has been sued for failing to pay overtime wages and provide meal and rest breaks to its employees.
The lawsuit, filed on Dec. 19, seeks back wages and compensation for missed breaks on behalf of an estimated 300 to 400 armed guards employed in Iraq during the past two years by SOC Inc., which is based in Minden, Nev.
“It was supposed to be six days a week, 12-hour days,” said attorney Scott Gizer, a partner at Los Angeles-based Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, which filed the suit in Clark County, Nev.’s Eighth Judicial District Court. “In reality, they were working closer to 13- or 14-hour days, seven days a week.”
The suit alleges that their time sheets were falsified to show that they worked 12-hour shifts for six days a week, he said.
A call to Michael Littlejohn, general counsel of SOC, was not returned.
The lead plaintiff is Karl Risinger, who worked at SOC as an armed guard at a military base in Iraq from March 8, 2010, to March 8, 2011. When Risinger signed the SOC employment contract under Nevada law, he believed he was going to be paid a $65,000 salary.
“However, when Plaintiff and others similarly situated arrived in Iraq, they were informed that the $65,000 so-called ‘salary’ was, in fact, calculated based upon a $17.36 hourly rate,” the suit says.
The class comprises five subclasses: Those denied overtime wages; those who worked more than eight hours a day without a 30-minute meal period; those who worked more than eight hours a day who didn’t get a rest period; those with unpaid wages and compensation when their employment ended; and those who didn’t receive accurate records of their wages.
Under Nevada law, companies must provide an employee with a 30-minute meal period for each eight hours worked, Gizer said. They also are entitled to a 10-minute rest break for each four hours worked.
“There were set hours for when the mess hall would be open, and our guys would not be able to access that during their shift, so they’d have to, before their shift started, run, eat and then start their 12-hour shift,” he said.
Source: Amanda Bronstad, National Law Journal
Fans’ Ideas at Risk
Category: News | Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 | Comments Off on Fans’ Ideas at Risk
Studios’ Interaction With Fans Can Land Them in Hot Water if it Appears They Stole Ideas
LOS ANGELES – In the digital era, relationships between many corporate marketing departments and their customers have become as interactive as a video game. But as companies encourage fan participation – soliciting everything from “friendship” on social network websites to user-developed promotional videos and ideas – lawyers say their corporate clients are becoming more exposed to losing.
Theoretically, a company could be sued if it uses an idea posted on its Facebook wall, emailed to a staff member or submitted in a contest without paying the submitter. And lawyers say a recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which found that an implied contract exists if a plaintiff expected to be paid for his or her idea when submitted, has further emboldened potential litigants. Larry Montz v. Pilgrim Films & Television Inc., 606 F.3d 1153 (9th Cir., June 3, 2010).
In one such lawsuit, filed last week against Discovery Channel parent company Discovery Communications Inc., a filmmaker claimed she won a pitching contest but was turned down after a formal pitch meeting. She said she was told her idea for a reality television show following the day-to-day operations of a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Southern California was “too edgy” for the network. But a year later, Discovery premiered “Weed Wars,” a similar program, shot on location at an Oakland- based dispensary.
Theoretically, a company could be sued if it uses an idea posted on its Facebook wall, emailed to a staff member or submitted in a contest without paying the submitter.
Kylie Krabbe submitted her idea via email to the Council on International Nontheatrical Events’ “5 on 5 for 5” contest in the spring of 2010. Chosen as a finalist, Krabbe gave a five-minute presentation to five development executives, including Discovery Senior Vice President and CINE President Rita Mullin.
Krabbe’s attorney, Devin A. McRae of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP, said the point of the contest was to win the opportunity to pitch an idea for sale to an industry executive.
“The contest would be completely meaningless if CINE or the CINE-selected industry executive could simply decide to use the idea without paying the contest’s winner,” McRae said. “Everyone involved understood that Ms. Krabbe submitted her idea on the condition of payment for its use and not once was it even remotely suggested that CINE or anyone else had the right to just take it, as they did.”
A spokeswoman for Discovery declined to comment on the allegations.
Wendy Revel, executive director of CINE, said the submission process – which asked contestants to send a one-page proposal via email, including a description of the concept, the length, format, intended audience and an estimated budget – was informal and didn’t include information on how contestants might protect their ideas.
“We have reputable people in the industry who are looking at them and hearing their pitches,” Revel said.
Dominique R. Shelton, an intellectual property specialist with Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP who is not involved in the case, said the Montz case re-established so- called industry custom and practice in a way that invited more plaintiffs’ implied contract claims and that companies should beware.
“It used to be that unless the plaintiff clearly conditioned disclosure of an idea on payment, the implied-in-fact contract would not be presumed,” Shelton said. “Now, when a company is operating a promotion or receiving ideas, they’re going to want to bake into the submission agreement language that says they do not want industry custom and practices to be infused into the contract. Making that express rather than arguing about it later is probably a good idea.”
Neither side would discuss whether Krabbe to forego the new practice when she formally pitched the Discovery executives, but that will likely come to light as the litigation proceeds.
Glen L. Kulik, an idea theft specialist with Kulik, Gottesman, Mouton & Siegel LLP who is not involved in the case, said that most contests have no implied contracts.
“In submitting the idea, the writer is doing so to get his or her name and reputation known and to win a contest,” Kulik said, “not to sell the idea to the people running the contest.”
But he added that depends on who is running the contest, the contest rules and the prize. In Krabbe’s case, those details will be critical.
Source: Daily Journal, Erica Phillips
Woman Claims Discovery Swiped ‘Weed Wars’
Category: News | Monday, December 19th, 2011 | Comments Off on Woman Claims Discovery Swiped ‘Weed Wars’
LOS ANGELES (CN) – A woman claims the Discovery Channel “flat-out” stole the idea for its “Weed Wars” show from a pitch she made it in June 2010.
Kylie Krabbe sued Discovery Communications in Superior Court.
Krabbe claims she pitched her idea for a show called “Greener Pastures,” at Discovery’s offices in Maryland, after winning a national contest sponsored by CINE, the Council on International Nontheatrical Events, which was later headed by Discovery executive Rita Mullin.
Krabbe claims that Mullin and other industry executives were on the panel to whom she made her pitch.
“It turns out that this so-called ‘contest’ and ‘award’ was merely an elaborate ruse by Discovery to identify and target the best novel ideas to steal under false pretenses-in direct violation of established California law,” the complaint states. “Discovery ‘passed’ on plaintiff’s pitch, saying the subject matter was ‘too edgy’ for it. Yet, either simultaneously or within days of uttering these pretextual reasons for rejection, Discovery approached another producer to create a show using all of plaintiff’s ideas. ‘Weed Wars’ premiered on the Discovery Channel one year later. Not only is the general concept of ‘Weed Wars’ identical to plaintiff’s ‘Greener Pastures,’ but so are numerous concrete details regarding the plot, themes, characters and sequence of events.”
Krabbe’s attorney Devin McRae told Courthouse News that the case was “a textbook case of idea theft.”
“It’s indisputable that Ms. Krabbe submitted her ideas to Discovery on the condition of payment for their use. Discovery unarguably had access to Ms. Krabbe’s ideas. There are several specific concrete similarities between Ms. Krabbe’s pitch materials and ‘Weed Wars,'” McRae said.
Krabbe claims that before Discovery ripped off her idea, Mullin encouraged her to cast the show and to get a production company attached, so as to protect her interests as an unproven producer. Krabbe followed that advice, “spending considerable time, energy and resources” to cast the show and attach a producer, GOTV, according to the complaint.
Krabbe says she cast Joanna Laforce as the owner of three medical marijuana dispensaries in California. Members of Laforce’s family were also cast to appear in the show, she says.
Krabbe says she pitched the show to Mullin and another executive at Discovery’s Los Angeles office in August 2010. They passed on the show but Mullin introduced Krabbe to another executive at Discovery’s Planet Green Channel, according to the complaint. That executive also rejected the project, citing concerns that the show would turn off advertisers, Krabbe says.
“Discovery simply decided to steal plaintiff’s ideas and had initiated, or soon thereafter did initiate, contact with another producer, Chuck Braverman, to make a show using plaintiff’s ideas, but rather than casting Laforce who was under contract with plaintiff, casting D’Angelo, who was identified in plaintiff’s pitch materials as, in essence, Laforce’s mirror image in Northern California,” according to the complaint.
The complaint cites several ideas in “Weed Wars” that it claims are “unique to ‘Green Pastures,'” including the use of a family-run dispensary, a head of family who is a “visionary and political activist,” and the risk the family faces “because of the illegality, on the federal level, of medicinal marijuana, as well as the possibility every day that the entire business empire could be shut down at a moment’s notice.”
McRae told Courthouse News: “It has been reported that Discovery approached Braverman’s production company with the idea to produce ‘Weed Wars’ at the same time Discovery told Ms. Krabbe that the subject matter of medicinal marijuana was ‘too edgy’ and of no interest to it.”
Krabbe seeks damages for breach of implied-in-fact contract, plus screen credit and royalties. The only defendants are Discovery Communications Inc. and Does 1-20.
Discovery declined to comment.
McRae is a partner in Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae.
Source: Matt Reynolds, Courthouse News
Discovery Sued By Woman Who Claims ‘Weed Wars’ Was Her Idea
Category: News | Friday, December 16th, 2011 | Comments Off on Discovery Sued By Woman Who Claims ‘Weed Wars’ Was Her Idea
Discovery Communications has been sued by a woman who claims the company’s Discovery channel stole the idea for its new medical-marijuana docuseries Weed Wars.
In a detailed lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Kylie Krabbe claims she came up with the idea of creating a reality series based on a medical marijuana dispensary and took it to an organized pitch session in 2010, where she won the right to pitch Discovery executives. Krabbe says she then developed a show to be called Greener Pastures, featuring the proprietor of a pot dispensary in Santa Barbara, and registered the treatment with the WGA before pitching Discovery execs.
According to the suit, Discovery initially expressed interest but ultimately passed on the show, calling it too “edgy” for the network. But Krabbe believes the network had decided to move forward with another producer, Chuck Braverman, who developed what would become Weed Wars, about a dispensary in Oakland, Calif. That show premiered Dec. 1 on Discovery.
Krabbe, repped by Devin McRae at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, wants damages for breach of implied contract.
We’ve reached out to Discovery for comment. The network does not comment on pending litigation.
Source: Matthew Belloni, The Hollywood Reporter
Would-Be Producer to Sue Discovery Channel’s Parent Company, Says ‘Weed Wars’ TV Show Was Her Idea
Category: News | Thursday, December 15th, 2011 | Comments Off on Would-Be Producer to Sue Discovery Channel’s Parent Company, Says ‘Weed Wars’ TV Show Was Her Idea
A lawsuit to be filed today asserts that Weed Wars—a reality show that follows the day-to-day action at a California medicinal marijuana dispensary—was the brainchild of one Kylie Krabbe, who was not paid for it.
But Krabbe “isn’t your normal person off the street who says, ‘Yeah, I came up with the idea,’ ” her lawyer, Devin A. McRae of Los Angeles-based Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae told the Daily Journal (sub. req.) on Wednesday.
According to the complaint McRae announced would be filed today, Krabbe’s idea won a 2010 Council on International Non Theatrical Events “5 on 5 for 5” Pitch Session contest. After that, Krabbe developed the show she titled Greener Pastures; cast the owner of a Santa Barbara marijuana dispensary; registered her treatment with the Writers Guild of America; and pitched it to Discovery, which took a pass.
Discovery soon took Krabbe’s idea to another producer who built Weed Wars around an Oakland, Calif., marijuana dispensary, the complaint states.
Source: Sarah Randag, ABA Journal
Croft Holding Corp. v. Healstone Investment Real Estate, Inc. et al.
Category: Results | Thursday, December 1st, 2011 | Comments Off on Croft Holding Corp. v. Healstone Investment Real Estate, Inc. et al.
Early Sullivan’s strategic use of law and motion and discovery to focus on the fatal flaws in plaintiff’s $35 million breach of fiduciary duty and professional negligence action brought so much pressure to bear on plaintiffs that they walked from their case for a $17,500 settlement.
Domini and Morros v. Ticor Title of Nevada, Inc. and Ticor Title Insurance Company
Category: Results | Thursday, December 1st, 2011 | Comments Off on Domini and Morros v. Ticor Title of Nevada, Inc. and Ticor Title Insurance Company
Early Sullivan represented Ticor Title of Nevada, Inc. (an escrow company) and Ticor Title Insurance Company (a title insurance company) in two separate actions filed by plaintiffs in Reno, Nevada, arising from a $15 million Ponzi-scheme orchestrated by an unscrupulous Reno lender who is currently under federal indictment. We vigorously defended both actions in Washoe County, Nevada, leading to favorable settlements for Ticor.
Lindell v. Chicago Title Company, et al.
Category: Results | Thursday, December 1st, 2011 | Comments Off on Lindell v. Chicago Title Company, et al.
Early Sullivan’s Motion to Dismiss was granted in the trial court in Washoe County, Reno, Nevada, in another of the actions arising from the $15 million Ponzi-scheme in Reno. The ruling resulted in the complete dismissal with prejudice of plaintiff’s action against Chicago Title in which it had been sued for breach of contract, conspiracy, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, deceit, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion, false advertising, and deceptive trade practices. The Court granted Chicago Title’s motion on several grounds, including plaintiffs failure to allege that they had suffered an actionable loss and because by law, plaintiffs could not assert negligence based claims against Chicago Title based on the issuance of a title policy.
Derek Fisher v. Fox Sports
Category: Results | Thursday, December 1st, 2011 | Comments Off on Derek Fisher v. Fox Sports
Early Sullivan currently represents Los Angeles Laker and National Basketball Players Association President, Derek Fisher, in his dispute with Fox Sports regarding statements published about Mr. Fisher by Fox Sports and writer Jason Whitlock.
Holder v. Howe
Category: Results | Thursday, December 1st, 2011 | Comments Off on Holder v. Howe
Early Sullivan obtained voluntary dismissal, with prejudice, of all causes of action against Ozzie Silna, an American businessman best known for his success in the textile industry and pioneering ownership of the Spirits of St. Louis of the original American Basketball Association. The Court sustained our demurrer to all causes of action, including corporate director liability, illegal distribution, breach of fiduciary duty, and aiding and abetting.