“It is so ordered.”
It took a while, but that’s her final answer.
Almost a week and a half later than expected, Judge Virginia Phillips issued a dense 54-page final order Tuesday denying the Walt Disney Co.’s bid to overturn the jury verdict of $319 million to Celador, the creators of “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.”
Celador, which first filed suit against Disney in 2004, contended that Disney and its TV subsidiaries ABC, Buena Vista Television and Valleycrest Production conducted a series of slippery deals and secret arrangements to profit handsomely from its show.
This summer, a Riverside, Calif., jury agreed.
The result, said Celador, was that the “Millionaire” creators were left short hundreds of millions in expected revenues and profits from the Regis Philbin hosted game show when it came to America and ABC in 1999.
“After six and a half years of litigation, Disney had hundreds of opportunities to make its case in front of two federal judges and a jury,” Roman Silberfeld, Celador’s lawyer, told TheWrap after the order was released. “They couldn’t do it, because our client revealed the breach of contract and what happened to them.”
Attempts by TheWrap to reach Disney lawyer Marty Katz and Walt Disney representatives were not immediately returned.
After a four-week trial, the jury initially awarded the UK company $269.431,798 on July 7, 2010. That not inconsiderable sum, which was one of the largest out of any Hollywood accounting court battle, went up another $50 million when Phillips awarded prejudgment interest to Celador on Sept. 27.
With that kind of money, CEO Bob Iger and the combative Team Mickey must be wishing the answer was different. But Disney isn’t out of lifelines yet – not by a long stretch.
Disney has 30 days to file paperwork that could move the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal If Disney does that, which they likely will, it means it could be up to two years before Celador sees any money … or before Disney can claim victory.
In fact, it could see a lot of the same people showing up again in one form or another. The trial this summer saw the Disney CEO take the stand, as well as a cast of corporate characters including Ben Silverman and Greg Lipstone, as their capacity as the former William Morris agents who brought the UK show to ABC, and Celador chair Paul Smith.
Noticeably suddenly absent from the proceedings, as a witness was former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who was running things when Disney acquired “Millionaire” for broadcast in the US.
