Legendary Pictures Productions v. Lin Pictures CA2/2

Filed 3/4/14 Legendary Pictures Productions v. Lin Pictures CA2/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION TWO

LEGENDARY PICTURES B248939 PRODUCTIONS, LLC et al., (Los Angeles County Plaintiffs and Appellants, Super. Ct. No. BC498786)

v.

LIN PICTURES, INC., et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Abraham Khan, Judge. Affirmed.

Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert, Dale F. Kinsella, Gregory P. Korn; Venable, Douglas C. Emhoff and Jennifer Levin for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor, Stanton L. Stein, Bennett A. Bigman, and Jordan S. Paul for Defendants and Respondents.

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Plaintiffs and appellants Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (Legendary) and Jon Jashni (Jashni) brought an action for declaratory relief against defendants and respondents Lin Pictures, Inc., Vertigo Entertainment, Inc. (Vertigo), Dan Lin (Lin), Roy Lee (Lee), and Doug Davison, and submitted a demand for arbitration. Respondents filed a cross-complaint and denied that their dispute was subject to arbitration. Appellants filed a motion to compel arbitration; the trial court denied their motion; and appellants challenge that trial court order. Substantial evidence supports the trial court’s finding that the parties never had a written agreement to arbitrate their dispute. Accordingly, we affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The Parties Negotiate and Reach an Oral Agreement to Produce the Film The parties are self-described successful and experienced motion picture producers. Legendary acquired the rights to produce the film Godzilla, which is now in production and intended for release in 2014. After Legendary acquired the rights to the film, it began negotiating an agreement with respondents under which they would develop and potentially produce the film with Legendary.1 Between September 2009 and late February 2010, the parties’ counsel engaged in negotiations concerning a producer agreement. During their negotiations, the parties and their counsel never discussed or agreed to arbitrate their dispute. The parties appear to agree that by February 26, 2010, they had reached an oral agreement pursuant to which they would develop and produce the film. And, the parties began working on the film. In March 2010, Jashni instructed respondents to begin working with the writer that they had selected to prepare the story and screenplay. On