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Trials & Litigation
Lawyer mistakenly filed ‘verbatim copy’ of opponent’s temporary, resulting in loss for Romantics band member
Bassist Mike Talent performs with the Romantics throughout the Little Stevens Underground Storage live performance poolside on the Seminole Arduous Rock Resort and On line casino on April 2, 2006, in Hollywood, Florida. (Photograph by Ralph Notaro/Getty Images)
A trial court docket didn’t abuse its discretion when it required a member of the rock band the Romantics to pay triple damages after his new legal professional filed a “verbatim copy” of the opponent’s temporary by mistake, the Michigan Courtroom of Appeals has dominated.
The appeals court docket dominated in opposition to the Romantics guitarist Mike Talent in a lawsuit alleging that he wrongly diverted royalty funds to himself.
Law360 has protection.
The trial decide had ordered Talent to pay triple damages of greater than $232,300, as requested by the plaintiffs of their movement for abstract disposition. The appeals court docket affirmed in a Feb. 29 unpublished opinion.
Talent co-wrote the tune “What I Like About You,” in response to Law360.
Talent’s lawyer supposed to file an opposition to the plaintiff’s movement for abstract disposition, the appeals court docket mentioned. As an alternative, the June 2022 temporary was a cut-and-paste of the plaintiff’s temporary in help of abstract disposition, signed by Talent’s lawyer, who was not named within the opinion.
The brand new legal professional mentioned a paralegal had filed the incorrect temporary. It was filed on the prolonged deadline day for a response to the abstract disposition request. Talent’s lawyer tried to file an amended temporary the subsequent day, however the trial decide apparently rejected it.
The decide granted abstract disposition to the 2 plaintiffs—an organization shaped to handle enterprise affairs for the band often called Grasp Beat Inc. and fellow band member Walter Palamarchuk, who goes by the stage title Wally Palmar.
The trial court docket reasoned that it might reject the brand new temporary and award abstract disposition to the plaintiffs based mostly on well timed filings earlier than the court docket. The trial decide additionally mentioned proof established Talent’s legal responsibility for conversion, breach of fiduciary obligation and unjust enrichment.
Palamarchuk was president of Grasp Beat, and Talent was secretary-treasurer. The corporate had contractual agreements requiring the fee of royalties to Grasp Beat, which might then distribute royalties to previous and current band members underneath varied contractual agreements.
Talent thought that he was entitled to royalties with out the cash first passing by means of Grasp Beat, and he took steps to divert royalties to himself in late 2020, the swimsuit alleged.
There’s some proof, the appeals court docket mentioned, that Talent apparently acquired about $26,700 in royalties straight from Sony Music Publishing and $30,000 in royalty funds from Okay-Tel Worldwide earlier than Grasp Beat grew to become conscious of it. The proof, nevertheless, isn’t totally clear from the document, the appeals court docket mentioned. There’s additionally some proof that Talent withdrew $20,000 from a checking account belonging to Grasp Beat in July 2021, pondering that he was entitled to the cash.
The lawyer who filed the incorrect temporary had taken over in Could 2022 from a earlier lawyer who sought to withdraw on the alleged floor that Talent had not paid his authorized payments. The brand new lawyer blamed the submitting mistake on the quick time-frame between the time that she got here aboard and the due date for the response, on her personal sickness because the deadline approached, and on her paralegal’s failure to file the temporary ready by Talent’s former lawyer as instructed.
On the deserves, Talent’s lawyer argued that he couldn’t convert funds that already belonged to him.
“Underneath these circumstances,” the appeals court docket mentioned, “defendant has not demonstrated that the trial court docket abused its discretion by declining to allow the submitting of a corrected temporary after the deadline imposed by the scheduling order had handed. … Moreover, on the document earlier than the trial court docket in gentle of the dearth of a correctly and well timed filed responsive temporary, the trial court docket didn’t err by granting plaintiffs’ movement for abstract disposition.”
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