Sex and Attorney’s Fees.
Tom Kelley Studios, whose founder photographed the then 22-year-old Marilyn Monroe while she was laying nude on red velvet
in May 1949, waged federal court litigation against Marilyn Monroe’s estate and CMG Worldwide, Inc, the estate’s licensing agent, over who has the publicity and distribution rights to the actress’ famed Red Velvet photos. A federal judge found that CMG could not assert rights in the photos, awarding Tom Kelley Studios a portion of $3 million in requested attorney’s fees (from the article we read, it appeared to be about $508,000) against the estate and CMG.
One of the lawyers for the Studios then brought a state court motion to appoint a receiver to help satisfy the fee award. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe, on March 16, 2010, denied the request. Among other things, he stated, “You want a receiver to chase a deadbeat. I don’t think that’s the function of a receiver.” This may not be the end of the story, because the losing attorney indicated he will attempt to recover the fees through a court-ordered assignment.
For more details on the story, see “Judge denies motion to appoint receiver to collect attorneys’ fees debt” available for reading on-line at The Los Angeles Independent website.
From Billy Wilder’s "Some Like It Hot" (1959)