AIG-Hank Greenberg Fee Battle.
AIG has announced that it has settled long-standing legal disputes with its former chairman, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. The parties have also agreed to release each other from all claims, including Mr. Greenberg’s claims against AIG for payments of future legal fees and expenses. The settlement also covers AIG’s former CFO Howard Smith as well as two of Mr. Greenberg’s two privately-held companies.
That Hank Greenberg: This Hank Greenberg:
Here is the attorney’s fees rub. The two sides have agreed to mediate what amount AIG must pay for Messrs. Greenberg’s and Smith’s past legal fees before Layn Phillips of Irell & Manella, although the amount cannot exceed a “capped” $150 million (wow!).
For more on this story, see Hibah Yousuf’s article “AIG settles legal battle with Hank Greenberg,” available for reading at a November 25, 2009 post on CNNMoney.com.
BLOG OBSERVATION—Co-contributors Marc and Mike have mediated before Mr. Phillips, who is a superb mediator and a former Oklahoma federal district court judge. He works out of Irell & Manella’s Newport Beach, CA office.
Veoh-IoGroup/Universal Music Group Copyright Infringement Disputes.
Recently, Veoh has won important court rulings in its defense of copyright infringement claims brought by Io Group and Universal Music Group (UMG).
Veoh won based on the ground that section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act gives “safe harbor” to websites who enact strong take-down measures.
UMG apparently refused to participate in the “safe harbor” take-down procedures, and Veoh defeated UMG’s argument that it was Veoh’s burden to figure out what alleged UMG rights might have been infringed.
Now, here comes the attorney’s fees angle to the whole controversy. On December 21, 2009, Veoh is seeking to recoup nearly $3 million in attorney’s fees from UMG in a motion scheduled before U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz of the Central District of California. So, we will keep you posted, although Google is making use of the “safe harbor” in defending YouTube from copyright charges by Viacom and others. Sounds like fertile grounds for litigation—and, of course, fee battles for the winners.
See Eriq Gardner’s December 2, 2009 post “Veoh seeks $3 mil in attorneys fees from Universal Music.”.