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Trump Sues Univision For $500M In Miss USA Contract Row – Law360
Bryan Sullivan was quoted in Kurt Orzeck’s Law360 piece “Trump Sues Univision For $500M In Miss USA Contract Row,” which can be found below.
Trump Sues Univision For $500M In Miss USA Contract Row
By Kurt Orzeck
Law360, Los Angeles (June 30, 2015, 9:14 PM ET) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday sued Univision Networks & Studios Inc. for $500 million in New York state court for dropping coverage of the Miss USA Pageant, which Trump partly owns, over incendiary remarks he made about Mexican immigrants.
The breach-of-contract suit — also filed by Miss Universe LP LLLP, which runs the pageant — claims the Spanish-language television network actually made its decision because Univision is principally owned by Haim Saban, a fundraiser for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Saban is trying to suppress Trump’s First Amendment rights, the complaint alleges.
Univision canceled its five-year, $13.5 million contract with Trump over comments he made when he announced his latest presidential bid on June 16, referring to the United States as a “dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.” Trump claimed on Tuesday that the network is contractually obligated to broadcast the pageant live on TV in Spanish on July 12.
The Trump Organization announced the planned lawsuit on Thursday, the same day that Univision said it was ending its business relationship with Miss Universe LP.
Tuesday’s suit said Trump has “dramatically risen in the polls while expressing critical views of Mrs. Clinton. Little else can explain Univision’s decision to not only abandon its contractual relationship with MUO, but also … pressure [NBCUniversal Inc.] to follow suit and cut longstanding ties with plaintiffs nearly two weeks after the statements were made.”
Trump, who’s become known for incendiary remarks on the campaign trail in this and past presidential bids — including insinuating during the 2012 cycle that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States — went on to say in his latest campaign announcement that Mexican immigrants to the United States are not the best the southern neighbor has to offer.
“They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting,” Trump said at the time. “They’re sending us not the right people. It’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America and it’s coming, probably, probably from the Middle East.”
Univision said that those remarks were unacceptable. Its entertainment division ended its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization “based on [Trump’s] recent, insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants,” the company said in a statement. “We will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12 or working on any other projects tied to The Trump Organization.”
Although it won’t be airing anything connected with the Trump projects, Univision did say that its news service will continue covering Trump and all other candidates on the campaign trail.
Univision announced in January that it would air the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants under a long-term partnership with Trump and pageant partner NBC.
The Trump Organization said in a Tuesday statement that a high-ranking Univision executive called him earlier this month to apologize and say that the company felt ashamed of its plans to not broadcast the pageant.
“Nothing that I stated was different from what I have been saying for many years,” Trump said in the Tuesday statement. “I want strong borders and I do not support or condone illegal immigration. I have great respect for Mexico and love for the Mexican people and their tremendous spirit!”
The Tuesday suit also alleges defamation and intentional interference with their contractual relationship. It seeks attorneys’ fees, punitive damages and additional relief.
Bryan Sullivan of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP, who specializes in business matters, told Law360 on Tuesday that “The entire case will turn on what the contract says and, more specifically, whether it has a morals clause that is broad enough to justify its termination due to the offensive comments Donald Trump made about Mexican immigrants.”
Representatives for Univision and Saban didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.
Plaintiffs are represented by Jeffrey L. Goldman of Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman LLP. Counsel information for the defendants wasn’t immediately available.
The case is Miss Universe LP LLLP et al. v. Univision Networks & Studios Inc. et al., index number not yet assigned, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.
–Additional reporting by Bryan Koenig. Editing by Kelly Duncan.
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