Breach Of Contract

The wise-cracking Chihuahua who earned millions for Taco Bell Corp. -- and some criticism from Latinos as an ethnic stereotype -- has a new slogan: "?Yo quiero mi dinero!" -- I want my money! A federal appeals court Friday ruled that Taco Bell is solely liable for $42 million in breach-of-contract awards to two Michigan men who created the diminutive mascot that starred in the Irvine fast-food giant's hit $500-million advertising campaign in the 1990s.

It's hardly the triumphant return to the United States that South Korean pop superstar Rain had hoped for. The popular singer-actor, dubbed the "Justin Timberlake of Asia," arrived in Hawaii on Monday facing two lawsuits stemming from the cancellation of dates on his 2006-07 North American Rain's Coming tour. Rain's legal troubles follow his attempts to break into the U.S. market and build the kind of loyal fan base here that has eluded other Asian performers.

A real-life soap opera in Spanish-language television -- a saga of family legacy, corporate ambition and allegations of treachery -- is expected to shift today to a federal courtroom in Los Angeles. The civil trial will pit two titans against each other and bring to the witness stand key executives who are accustomed to controlling the media behind the scenes rather than fighting over it in open court.

It's been more than a decade since Chris Rock and a shapely blond model struck up a conversation over Sunday brunch at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. The relationship that followed was brief -- two dinner dates -- but there seems to be no end to the fallout from the liaison.

After six years of legal sniping, actor Steven Seagal and his former business partner, Julius R. Nasso, buried the hatchet Sunday, ending a bitter court battle that had spawned allegations of contract breach and Mafia extortion. As a result of the confidential, out-of-court settlement, Nasso is expected to drop his $60-million lawsuit against Seagal, which alleged that the actor reneged on an agreement to produce four films with him.

The deal seemed straightforward enough. Hermosa Beach voters had overturned a 52-year-old ban on oil drilling, and a small Santa Monica company had signed the lease for the job, one that was supposed to earn the small city as much as $2 million a year. But after more than a decade in court, not a drop of oil has been pumped from the ground. Instead, the deal that was supposed to solve the city's financial problems and help fund schools threatens to send it into bankruptcy.

As novelist Clive Cussler struggled at times on the witness stand Tuesday in a Hollywood breach-of-contract trial, lawyers for his opponent, billionaire Philip Anschutz, filed a lawsuit in Denver alleging that the author's literary agent fraudulently inflated the number of Cussler books sold worldwide.

In Hollywood it pays to have connections, even if you are the son of former Disney Chairman Michael Eisner. Stories of back-lot feuding, deceitful negotiations and high-strung egos are all part of a drama unfolding in the wood-paneled Los Angeles County Superior Court room of Judge John P. Shook. Names such as Breck Eisner, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Penelope Cruz, Heath Ledger and Jack Black spill from the witness stand.

Officials with Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science announced Tuesday they will sue Los Angeles County for $125 million, claiming breach of contract when the county cut ties between the medical school and a faltering county hospital near Watts late last year. Calling the termination of support to 248 medical residents a "callous betrayal," school officials charged that the recent restructuring of the facility, now known as Martin Luther King Jr.

It's a case of life imitating "Entourage." When Richard Abate, a prominent New York literary agent, made plans to leave ICM and move to the Endeavor Talent Agency, he had no idea the transition would unleash so much drama. Not only has he become the target of internet gossip and speculation, he's also been slapped with an ICM lawsuit alleging that he violated the terms of his contract -- which runs through the end of this year -- by moving to an arch-competitor ahead of time.