Most of the lengthy litigation brought by Robert Kirkman and the other executive producers of the zombie apocalypse series against AMC appears to be coming to a close this year as well, as the last season of The Walking Dead airs later this year.
Contents
Walking Dead Creator Robert Kirkmans Profits Battle With AMC
Judge Daniel Buckley of the Los Angeles Superior Court essentially ended the lawsuit brought by Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, and fellow TWD EPs Charles Eglee and Glen Mazzara against the former home of Mad Men on Wednesday.
Today, Judge Buckley issued a partial summery judgement ruling on the plaintiffs’ third amended complaint, writing, “Based upon the facts and evidence before the Court, the Court finds no triable issues of material fact as to Plaintiffs’ first cause of action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing” (read it here). The court has decided to grant summary judgement on the first cause of action.
The Los Angeles judge presiding over the profit battle waged by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and several executive producers seeking a bigger stake in the hit zombie series was faced with a straightforward question:
On Friday, Judge Daniel Buckley gave an indication that he may rule that AMC did not breach its contracts in order to shortchange Kirkman. The order would drastically reduce the case over revenues from the highest-rated cable series ever.
In a preliminary verdict, the judge ruled in favour of the network on all claims, including those for breach of the implicit duty of good faith and fair dealing and tortious interference. There are just audit claims left in the case.
Last Words
According to the motion, “the undisputed evidence demonstrates that AMC did not deprive Plaintiffs of the benefits of their contracts; rather, AMC canvassed the market and selected a market-competitive imputed licence fee that was equivalent to, and often better than, the terms offered by other cable networks.”.
