Disney the Winner in a Hunny of a Lawsuit
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Monday abruptly ended more than a decade of legal wrangling over merchandising royalties for Winnie the Pooh, handing Walt Disney Co. a major victory and taking a powerful swipe at the family that claimed it had been cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Judge Charles W. McCoy accused the Slesinger family -- which holds the lucrative merchandising rights -- of trying to gain an edge by stealing confidential Disney documents and then lying and altering court papers to cover up the thefts.
The plaintiffs' "willingness to tamper with, and even corrupt, the litigation process constitutes a substantial threat to the integrity of the judicial process," the judge wrote. "The court finds that [the plaintiffs'] misconduct was willful, tactical, egregious and inexcusable."
Disney's victory comes at a crucial time for Chief Executive Michael Eisner, who has been fending off a campaign to oust him after 20 years at the helm of the Burbank entertainment giant. Losing the case could have cost the company several hundred million dollars and provided more fodder for critics. Eisner met with the family last summer to discuss a settlement, but talks were abandoned.
"After 13 years in the courts, the Winnie the Pooh case is finally over," said Daniel Petrocelli, Disney's lead attorney. "Our position has been vindicated in its entirety."
The judge's scorching ruling stunned the heirs of Stephen Slesinger, a New York literary agent and a pioneer in the business of marketing cartoon characters. He had acquired the Winnie the Pooh merchandising rights for $1,000 in 1930 from A.A. Milne, the author of the children's stories about the honey-loving bear and his forest friends.
Slesinger's widow, Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, granted Disney the merchandising rights to the characters in 1961 in exchange for royalties. Pooh is now Disney's most profitable character, raking in more than $1 billion annually for the company and outmuscling Mickey Mouse as a money maker.
In 1991, Lasswell and her daughter, Patricia Slesinger, sued Disney, claiming that the company had failed to pay them millions of dollars in royalties for videos, computer software and other merchandise.
The family, in a statement Monday, vowed to appeal: "This decision unfortunately sends a strong message to corporate America that it is OK for companies like Disney to steal and renege on its contractual promises."
- Slesinger Seeks to Reinstate Pooh Case May 26, 2005
- Disney Loses Round in Pooh Royalty Feud Jun 19, 2002
- Judge Questions Audit in Winnie the Pooh Case Jun 19, 2002
