Judge Tells Burkle to Play Nice in Lawsuit Against Ovitz

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Go ahead and sue but please don’t be so nasty.


A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has refused to throw out a breach-of-contract suit filed by billionaire Ron Burkle against agent Michael Ovitz, but told the supermarket magnate to tone down his “personal attacks” in court papers.


Judge Soussan Bruguera, who ruled that Burkle’s suit should move forward with discovery motions, agreed with Ovitz that Burkle’s lawsuit, filed in February, was overheated.


Specifically, Ovitz sought to eliminate the first three paragraphs of the complaint, which referred to him as a “cancer” to Walt Disney Co., who “failed miserably” at the Burbank studio.


The suit also alleges Ovitz “lost his business friends and relationships as the result of his failure at Disney (and his earlier abandonment of his former partners at Creative Artists Agency)” and that he suffered a “catastrophic fall from grace.”


“The complaint features several paragraphs of scurrilous, vindictive and irrelevant personal aspersions,” Ovitz said in court papers. “While Burkle’s false personal invective may attract media attention as it was clearly designed to do it has absolutely no bearing or relevance to any of the purported causes of action.”


Burkle sued Ovitz for allegedly breaching his part of a 1998 agreement to invest with him on half the costs of future Internet business ventures, including the now-defunct CheckOut.com and TalkCity.com. Burkle claims he invested more than $30 million while Ovitz contributed nothing.


Burkle also maintains that Ovitz breached the contract as part of a wide-ranging “conspiracy” to exclude him from ownership interests in investments such as Google Inc.


In the mid-1990s, Burkle and Ovitz had joined in a bid for a National Football League franchise in Los Angeles that failed, and since the 1998 agreement their relationship has soured.


In the legal action, Ovitz has maintained that no agreement exists and that Burkle waited too long to file suit. He has also sought business records of Burkle’s investment company, Yucaipa Cos., arguing that if the agreement existed he should be entitled to a share of Burkle’s recent investment in Current, a planned cable network backed by former presidential candidate Al Gore, and a proposed bid for the Washington Nationals baseball team.


Ovitz was one of the subjects of a shareholder suit against Disney’s board that questioned his $140 million severance package. The payment was granted after his year-long tenure as president of the studio in 1995, widely perceived as a failure.


Ovitz said his job performance at Disney has nothing to do with the recent dispute, according to court papers. “Burkle’s complaint is full of stale and groundless claims, and we are confident the court will see them as such and will dismiss them at the appropriate time,” said Michael Sherman, a partner at Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP representing Ovitz.


In reply, Burkle had argued that the objectionable material in his complaint was “relevant and material charging allegations which are not only proper but essential” even though Ovitz “may not like reading them.”


Patricia Glaser, who is representing Burkle and is a partner at Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, LLP, said she was pleased with ruling, noting it allowed the action to go forward.



Search Shift


In an unusual career move, two former assistant deans at UCLA School of Law have started their own legal search and consulting firm.


Amy Berenson Mallow, the law school’s former assistant dean for career services, and Andrea Sossin-Bergman, former assistant dean for admissions, have formed MallowSossin LLC.


Mallow, who worked for UCLA for nine years, admitted that the career move was not typical. “I don’t think there are a lot of former assistant deans that do that,” she said. “A lot of people who go into legal search firms are lawyers in the field with varying experience levels.”


Mallow and Sossin-Bergman, who worked for the law school for almost 20 years, expect to leverage their relationships with students, alumni and employers.


MallowSossin opened its doors in Encino and plans to place associates and partners in law firms and corporations.



Comings & Goings


Latham & Watkins LLP has hired a new partner in its local corporate practice. Steven Stokdyk, who represents investment banks and other financial institutions and former partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, joins 26 corporate partners in Los Angeles



*Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or at

[email protected]

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