Shoot (May 21, 1999) p.1
HSI Prodns. win court case in dispute over dir. Paul Hunter.
By Robert Goldrich
Jury Rules That Company Didn't Intentionally Interfere In Helmer's Contract
With F.M. Rocks.
LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles Superior Court jury has ruled that bicoastal HSI
Productions did not intentionally interfere with a contract between F.M.
Rocks, Santa Monica, and director Paul Hunter. The verdict - reached earlier
this month (5/7) - thus dismissed plaintiff F.M. Rocks' claim that it was due
financial recompense and damages from defendant HSI.
Instead, according to a proviso cited by HSI's legal counsel, F.M. Rocks must
now reimburse HSI for its court expenses such as deposition costs, expert
witness and filing fees. (Reimbursable court costs do not include lawyers'
fees.). HSI president Stavros Merjos estimated that his company's reimbursable
court costs are in the six-figure range.
As earlier reported (SHOOT, 3/5, p. 1), F.M. Rocks filed a lawsuit contending
that HSI had induced Hunter to breach the aforementioned contract. Sometime
around May '97, Hunter stopped directing music videos for F.M. Rocks and
started working for HSI where he has since helmed both clips and spots.
Describing himself as "very happy" with the verdict, Merjos reiterated what he
said he had previously communicated to F.M. Rocks' ownership: "I told them 'I
didn't steal your guy. He [Hunter] was unhappy on his own and left.'"
Merjos acknowledged that before going to trial, HSI had offered F.M. Rocks an
out-of-court settlement. "If smart, they would have settled for something
reasonable early on - but they were greedy and somehow thought they would get
some huge judgement," said Merjos of F.M. Rocks. Merjos explained that he
offered to settle in order to avoid costly litigation. While he declined to
specify how much was spent on his company's legal defense, Merjos noted that
his attorneys' fees came to considerably more than the earlier referenced
reimbursable six-figure court costs he said HSI incurred.
Craig Fanning, president of F.M. Rocks, said his company plans to pursue the
case on ap- peal. "We don't think the verdict was just in any way, shape or
form," he affirmed. "We have a very appealable case."
Five Questions
In order to prove its case and gain a favorable judgement, F.M. Rocks needed
the Superior Court jury to answer in the affirmative to five questions, then
set a value on alleged economic damages and establish a date on which the
supposed breach of contract occurred. If the jury responded "no" to any
question on the special verdict form, judgement would be rendered in favor of
HSI.
As it turned out, the jury concurred with F.M. Rocks on the first two special
verdict form queries. Jury members agreed that Hunter was bound to an
additional option year - from January 3, '97 to January 3, '98 - on his
director's agreement with F.M. Rocks. The jury also found that the defendant,
HSI, knew of the existence of this option year on the original contract.
However, the jury answered "no" to the third question which was: "Did the
defendants intentionally engage in acts or conduct which prevented Paul
Hunter's performance of the option year contract?" Once the jury concluded
that HSI was not guilty of such interference, there was no need to proceed on
to the remaining two questions. (Those questions were: "Did the defendants
intend to prevent Paul Hunter's performance of the option year contract?"; and
"Did the acts or conduct of the defendants which interfered with the option
year contract between Paul Hunter and F.M. Rocks cause damage to the
plaintiff?")
HSI's lead attorney, Michael J. O'Connor of White, O'Connor, Curry, Gatti &
Avanzado, Los Angeles, praised the jury, saying that its members
conscientiously sifted through claims and counterclaims by both sides.
(Relying heavily on public records, SHOOT outlined the main contentions of
plaintiff and defendant in the previously cited 3/5 story.)
O'Connor added that in talking with jury members after the trial, he
determined that they would have predictably answered "no" to those last two
special verdict form questions. HSI's in-house attorney Randy Winograd
corroborated O'Connor's claim. Winograd added that jury members he talked to
said that if they had handed down a verdict in favor of F.M. Rocks, the
judgement awarded would have been slightly in excess of $230,000. These
contentions of HSI's legal counsel could not be confirmed at press time. As
earlier reported, SHOOT uncovered a court document in which F.M. Rocks claimed
that it "lost in excess of $2 million as a result of the defendant's conduct."
Separate from the L.A. Superior Court case, F.M. Rocks and Hunter have filed
actions against each other before the American Arbitration Association. F.M.
Rocks initiated the arbitration proceedings. Though he did not have an exact
timetable, Fanning said he expected the arbitration process to move forward
shortly.
Hunter's latest work at HSI includes music videos for Lenny Kravitz, Jennifer
Lopez and Will Smith. The latter - which debuted on MTV last week - is for the
Smith-starring feature film, Wild Wild West, that's slated for release this
summer. Hunter also recently directed a pair of Coca-Cola spots for Edge
Creative, Santa Monica.
(
geocities.com/hypepaul)