Breach Of Contract

Nike Inc. sued Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper, claiming that he breached a contract by signing with rival Reebok International Ltd. without allowing Nike to match the offer. Culpepper signed a one-year agreement with Nike in July 2000 that the biggest apparel maker said gave it the right to match any offer by a competitor, according to the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon.

A Los Angeles federal court jury found Friday in favor of Tom Arnold and his former wife, Roseanne, in a breach of contract lawsuit against a New York clothing firm they hired to distribute their "plus size" clothing line. U.S. District Judge Harry Hupp said he plans to award the former couple $750,000. Still to be resolved is whether the president of CelebSales, Stanley Warner, will have to pay them all the money, or $250,000, with the company chipping in the rest.

Former Bell Gardens City Manager Claude L. Booker, who was fired in March after the recall of four Anglo City Council members, is suing the city for breach of his $124,000-a-year contract. Booker, who had worked for the city off and on since 1967, was one of four high-ranking officials--including the city clerk, the city attorney and the police chief--who were fired or left office when a Latino majority council was elected.

An infertile Tustin couple involved in an unprecedented custody battle with a surrogate mother sued her and the lawyer who arranged the surrogacy contract Tuesday. Mark and Crispina Calvert filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against Anna M. Johnson, the surrogate mother, lawyer William W. Handel and his organization, the Center for Surrogate Parenting Inc., alleging fraud, breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress.

A California appellate court has effectively shut the door on efforts to obtain punitive damages in breach-of-contract disputes that are filed as fraud lawsuits. In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal's 2nd District ruled Friday in Los Angeles that concealing a contract breach does not qualify as a separate fraud that would give rise to punitive damages. The precedent-setting ruling came in a breach-of-contract case that Robinson Helicopter Co. of Torrance brought against Dana Corp.

A federal court jury awarded $2.8 million in damages Wednesday against a Beverly Hills book publisher in a breach-of-contract lawsuit stemming from the publication of several mystery anthologies built around sports. After a six-day trial, a U.S. District Court jury in Los Angeles found in favor of New York bookstore owner Otto Penzler and ordered local publisher Michael Viner and his New Millennium Enterprises to pay the $2.8-million award, which includes $300,000 in punitive damages.

The producers of two Steven Seagal films now in postproduction -- "Today You Die" and "Mercenary" -- have sued the international action star for breach of contract, claiming he cost them millions of dollars by consistently failing to arrive on the set on time, engaging in constant script rewrites, making unapproved departures from the set and allowing his entourage to interfere with the work of the film crews.

Walt Disney Co. is alleging that the nation's biggest video store chain made it a Blockbuster nightmare for the entertainment giant by shortchanging it by $120 million. In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Los Angeles, Disney alleges that starting in 1997, Blockbuster Inc. failed to account for missing videos, improperly charged the Burbank-based company for some promotional costs and prematurely sold videos before their rental life was finished.

Actress Whoopi Goldberg settled a breach-of-contract lawsuit against her Friday by agreeing to star in an independent movie called "T. Rex" about a policewoman who teams up with a dinosaur. Details of the settlement, reached in the chambers of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Lachs, were not disclosed.