Law360, Los Angeles (April 11, 2017, 10:51 PM EDT) — A California judge on Tuesday rejected Quincy Jones’ request to disqualify an attorney expert designated by Sony and Michael Jackson’s production company in Jones’ $10 million royalty battle, saying there wasn’t a “factual basis” showing the attorney was privy to confidential information when his former firm represented Jones.
Jones’ suit alleges that MJJ Productions Inc., which is controlled by Jackson’s estate, and Sony cheated him out of royalties for the soundtrack to “This Is It” — the documentary about the King of Pop released just months after Jackson’s 2009 death — and the Cirque du Soleil show featuring music from three Jackson albums Jones produced: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad.”
In March, Jones moved to have the court disqualify one of the experts MJJ Productions planned to use, Eisner Jaffe attorney Owen Sloan, on the ground that his prior law firm, Mason & Sloan, previously represented Jones in connection with one of the producer agreements at issue in the litigation and other related matters.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern denied the request, after MJJ’s attorney argued that the other attorney in the two-partner firm handled Jones’ representation exclusively and there was no evidence that Sloan ever worked on the music producer’s matters.
“There’s just the lack of factual basis to show that he received or there was sharing of confidential information,” the judge said.
An attorney for Jones, Caroline M. Walters of McKool Smith Hennigan PC, argued that it was up to MJJP to prove that Sloan wasn’t exposed to Jones’ confidential information.
“The reality is it was a two-lawyer office,” Walters told the court. “Lawyers are likely to talk about their caseloads.”
Judge Stern asked Walters if she was citing facts or just “inferences and deductions.”
The attorney said there was no dispute of fact that Mason & Sloan represented Jones in connection with a 1978 agreement with The Jackson Five.
“For all we know they were sitting in the same office. They say they don’t recall talking to each other 40 years ago, that’s not sufficient,” Walters said. “It’s their burden to come forward with the evidence to establish that there was no reasonable likelihood at all that Mr. Sloan received confidential information.”
The suit, first filed in 2013, is scheduled to go to trial next month.
Jones worked with Jackson over the course of a decade, from 1978 to the late ’80s, on the three albums, which were among Jackson’s most successful.
The 27-time Grammy winner said that with each project, he entered into a contract with MJJ for royalties on the use of the songs and to protect the songs from being edited or remixed without his express approval and supervision, according to the suit. After Jackson’s death, the flurry of productions created to capitalize on the renewed interest in the King of Pop breached those contracts, Jones alleges.
MJJ released soundtracks to support the Cirque du Soleil production created in Jackson’s honor and for the “This Is It” film, which went on to become the highest-grossing music documentary of all time. But MJJ distributed the albums on its own label, not through Sony, to avoid paying royalties to the producer, Jones alleges.
Additionally, the tracks were edited for the film, something Jones says is explicitly prohibited by his contract, which requires that any editing or remixing be done by Jones himself.
Jones is seeking damages for breach of contract claims, for remixing fees he claims he would have been paid if he had been engaged to remix the masters in the various projects, the “value” of the resulting producer credit and unpaid royalties on the masters he claims were coupled without his consent.
Last year, Judge Stern denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, putting the case on the path for trial.
Quincy Jones is represented by Robert E. Allen and Caroline M. Walters of McKool Smith and Henry Gradstein of Gradstein & Marzano PC.
MJJ Productions Inc. and Sony Music Entertainment are represented by Tami Kameda Sims and Zia F. Modabber of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, and Howard Weitzman and Jonathan Steinsapir of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP.
The case is Quincy Jones et al. v. MJJ Productions Inc. et al., case number BC525803, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.
SOURCE: Law360
