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Month: November, 2015

Bryan Sullivan Named 2015 “Top Entertainment Lawyer” By Los Angeles Daily Journal

Bryan Sullivan was featured as a “Top Entertainment Lawyer” in this year’s Entertainment Law issue of the Los Angeles Daily Journal, California’s premier legal publication. Published this week, the exclusive list recognizes 50 leading attorneys who are reshaping litigation and dealmaking in the entertainment industry.

The full article and interview with Bryan Sullivan can be found below:

Crisis management and risk assessment, two of Sullivan’s specialties, came into play as he monitored the threat a pair of female stalkers posed to client Salma Hayek.

“The stalking started in the summer of 2014, but it escalated from the acts of obsessive fans to a potentially very dangerous situation,” Sullivan said, when he learned that the women stalking Hayek had reached out to try to contact the star’s young child. “That’s a huge red flag in threat analysis.”

The next move was to seek a restraining order. To Sullivan’s surprise, one of the accused women appeared at the August hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court to apologize and ask that she not be the subject of an order.

The judge, not persuaded, ordered both women to stay away for three years from Hayek, her husband and their 7-year-old daughter. “I’ve done my share of restraining orders,” Sullivan said, citing cases involving fans that got too close to clients Miley Cyrus and Kathy Griffin.

His client list also includes Whoopi Goldberg, Julianne Moore, Howie Mandel and a legion of directors, producers and screenwriters. Sullivan also performs the tricky task of managing audits for actors, writers and producers.

“We just settled in arbitration an audit case for a high-profile individual regarding a back end deal in a TV series,” he said, keeping the details under wraps. “Accounting is an exact science when it is just about what comes in and what goes out. But how to classify expenses and revenues can be an art form, and that’s where the litigation falls.”

For Latin Everywhere Inc., a Spanish language streaming service seeking to expand, Sullivan maneuvered to remove a roadblock posed by a former executive who held an equity share in the company.

“No one wanted to invest while those securities were in question,” Sullivan said. “We were able to settle that matter fairly quickly and free up the stock. It did lead to a large new round of financing.”

Source: John Rohmer, Los Angeles Daily Journal

Early Sullivan Successfully Defends First American Title Insurance Company Against Tort and Contract-Based Claims

The Firm represented First American Title Insurance Company in Gul Jaisinghani v. U.S. Bank, et al., Los Angeles Superior Court Case, No. SC125165.  We defended an action brought by a borrower/developer who asserted numerous tort and contract-based claims relating to a multi-million dollar property in Malibu, California. After four rounds of the Firm’s demurrers, and following multiple efforts by opposing counsel to add numerous legal theories and claims in several amended complaints, the Court entered judgment in favor of the Firm’s client First American.

Bryan Sullivan Quoted in Los Angeles Business Journal

Partner Bryan Sullivan was quoted in Cale Ottens’ Los Angeles Business Journal piece “Subcontractor Hangs Foreclosure Filing on Broad,” which studies engineering subcontractor Seele’s latest action in its payment dispute with Eli Broad, owner of the new Broad Museum in Los Angeles. Less than a week after the popular attraction opened, Seele foreclosed on the entire property and claimed that Broad still owes the company close to $6.9 million for its work; a move that Bryan does not consider surprising.

“The only way to get paid sometimes is to foreclose on the property,” Bryan said. “I think the Broad Foundation, they probably have the money, so they can pay it if they lose.”

Click “Download PDF” to read the full article.

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