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Lawyer mistakenly filed ‘verbatim copy’ of…
Trials & Litigation
Lawyer mistakenly filed ‘verbatim copy’ of opponent’s transient, resulting in loss for Romantics band member
March 5, 2024, 8:20 am CST
Bassist Mike Talent performs with the Romantics through the Little Stevens Underground Storage live performance poolside on the Seminole Exhausting Rock Resort and On line casino on April 2, 2006, in Hollywood, Florida. (Photograph by Ralph Notaro/Getty Photos)
A trial courtroom didn’t abuse its discretion when it required a member of the rock band the Romantics to pay triple damages after his new lawyer filed a “verbatim copy” of the opponent’s transient by mistake, the Michigan Courtroom of Appeals has dominated.
The appeals courtroom dominated towards 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 The appeals courtroom affirmed in a Feb. 29 unpublished opinion.
Talent co-wrote the track “What I Like About You,” in keeping with Law360.
Talent’s lawyer supposed to file an opposition to the plaintiff’s movement for abstract disposition, the appeals courtroom mentioned. As an alternative, the June 2022 transient was a cut-and-paste of the plaintiff’s transient in help of abstract disposition, signed by Talent’s lawyer, who was not named within the opinion.
The brand new lawyer mentioned a paralegal had filed the improper transient. It was filed on the prolonged deadline day for a response to the abstract disposition request. Talent’s lawyer tried to file an amended transient the following day, however the trial decide apparently rejected it.
The decide granted abstract disposition to the 2 plaintiffs—an organization fashioned to handle enterprise affairs for the band often known as Grasp Beat Inc. and fellow band member Walter Palamarchuk, who goes by the stage title Wally Palmar.
The trial courtroom reasoned that it might reject the brand new transient and award abstract disposition to the plaintiffs primarily based on well timed filings earlier than the courtroom. The trial decide additionally mentioned proof established Talent’s legal responsibility for conversion, breach of fiduciary responsibility and unjust enrichment.
Palamarchuk was president of Grasp Beat, and Talent was secretary-treasurer. The corporate had contractual agreements requiring the cost of royalties to Grasp Beat, which might then distribute royalties to previous and current band members below numerous contractual agreements.
Talent thought that he was entitled to royalties with out the cash first passing via Grasp Beat, and he took steps to divert royalties to himself in late 2020, the go well with alleged.
There may be some proof, the appeals courtroom 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 turned conscious of it. The proof, nonetheless, isn’t completely clear from the document, the appeals courtroom mentioned. There may be 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 improper transient had taken over in Might 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 transient 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 courtroom mentioned, “defendant has not demonstrated that the trial courtroom abused its discretion by declining to allow the submitting of a corrected transient after the deadline imposed by the scheduling order had handed. … Moreover, on the document earlier than the trial courtroom in mild of the shortage of a correctly and well timed filed responsive transient, the trial courtroom didn’t err by granting plaintiffs’ movement for abstract disposition.”
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