Round 2: ABC vs. Celador

[RegisFan]

www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/thr-esq/disney-appeals-millionaire-case-ninth-73631

Lawyers for The Walt Disney Co. have filed court papers to begin the appeal of the $319 million verdict against the company in the long-running battle over profits from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
The move is not a surprise, as Disney has vowed to appeal what many believe to be the largest jury verdict in a so-called "Hollywood accounting" case ever. Celador Int'l, producer of the Millionaire game show, accused Disney in federal court of manipulating its books to cheat the company out of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from the hit franchise, which aired on Disney's ABC network.
As we reported last month, the judge in the case denied Disney's effort to have the verdict thrown out and the case re-tried in front of a new jury. So the studio has filed a notice of appeal in the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Disney's opening brief is due on June 27. Celador's response is due 30 days later.

I knew Disney wouldn't give up without a fight. It will be interesting to see where this leads.

[FinalAnswer19]

I wish they wouldn't put that picture of Meredith next to an article like that. Less-knowing people would just think, "Oh, look at that, Vieira messed up again!"

[Admiral Yoshi]

Sorry, Regisfan, but can you summarize on what has happened here? I didn't get it! ;D

[FrankT]

I thought this was all settled!

[!Tommy]

Basically it means people aren't happy unless they're suing someone in a get rich quick scheme.

Not really, but I remember reading up about this before and I think it's ridiculous to begin with. I think it could all be settled with a simple compromise.

[millionairefan28]

I don't understand why they are two separate companies, divisionally, working at Millionaire. Why can't they just add up all of the profits earned on Millionaire and properly divide it between workers combined of both companies. Sorry, I don't know business too well. :/

[RegisFan]

Jan 22, 2011 2:19:10 GMT -5 Admiral Yoshi said:

Sorry, Regisfan, but can you summarize on what has happened here? I didn't get it! ;D

Well, the original deal was that Disney and Celador split profits from the show fifty-fifty. However, Disney accountants claimed that the show never made a profit, but instead caused $70 million dollars in "losses." How to interpret the word "losses" is something that Disney lawyers can explain. Anyway, Celador sued for their money, because the Celador folks thought they were severely shortchanged. Ultimately, Celador won the trial and got $319 million from Disney. Now, Disney is appealing the court decision.

I really don't know who is right or wrong in this scenario. I'm not a lawyer, so I can't tell you for sure if Celador's claim has any validity or not. Either way, the results are sure to be very interesting.

[millionairefan28]

@regisfan Do you believe that this could be something that may affect the show?

[RegisFan]

No, I don't. The issue is more with how ABC (and its accountants) handled the show. I don't think it affects the production itself.

[dwibs93]

When's this ABC/Celador saga gonna come to an end?

And I thought Celador don't even make the show anymore.

[RegisFan]

That's true, but this lawsuit has to do with ABC's primetime run of the series, and Millionaire was definitely a Celador production at the time when ABC was airing the show in primetime.

[millionairefan28]

Did Celador have any interaction with ABC during the syndicated run of the show?

[RegisFan]

Celador worked with Disney (technically not the network ABC, although ABC is ultimately owned by Disney) on the syndicated version until the format was sold to 2waytraffic a few years ago. However, I'm not sure that the lawsuit deals directly with the syndicated series as much as it does with the primetime show.

[millionfan]

maybe it has to do with the new format changes that might have not been authorized by 2waytraffic.

[GSK]

Not at all.