Mike Love Loses 9th Circuit Appeal

[DJ M]

Mike Love's lawsuit against Brian Wilson & other defendants re the free CD give away in a UK newspaper ends in a loss to Mike in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  Read the decision here:

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2010/07/08/07-56008.pdf

Mike Love lost in the district court and now the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's decision.  The ruling was on purely procedural grounds, so if you're not a lawyer, most of the decision will be hard to decipher.

The basic gist of the decision was that Mike could not sue in a US court because nearly all of the things he complained of (e.g. the free CD give away) occurred in the UK, not the US.  The decision shows that Mike had a very weak lawsuit on nearly every front. The Court of Appeals noted that the district court judge "strongly admonished" Love for first claiming his legal residence was in Nevada and then later alleging his legal residence was in California merely because he happened to own a home in California.  (p. 6) The lower court judge also bashed Mike's attorney for trying to use a "sham" affidavit that contained "fabricated" evidence. (p. 6 & p. 16, footnote 7)  Finally, Mike had to pay the attorney's fees of several of the Defendants.  (p. 17)  In the US, the general rule is that each side has to pay its own attorney's fees, unless there a contract provision proving for such fees or such fees are authorized by statute.  The Court of Appeals found that there were both contractual and statutory provisions that allowed some of the Defendants to force Mike to pay those Defendants' attorney's fees.  So, not only did Mike lose his lawsuit, he also has to pay his opponents' attorney's fees on top of paying his own attorneys.

Mike could try to appeal to the US Supreme Court.  However, because the Supreme Court is highly selective about the cases it hears, even if he tried to get the court to hear his case he will very likely be denied.  So, this is probably the end of the story for this case.

[Wirestone]

This is actually a funny opinion.

Read page seven: "Love wishes they all could be California torts."

V. droll.

[oldsurferdude]

Reunion anyone? 

[Chris Brown]

I'm surprised Mike even bothered appealing the district court's ruling in the first place - it's been awhile since I've read the opinion, but the district court judge gave him a pretty good smack-down as I recall.

That quote about California torts is priceless.  Who says judges don't have a sense of humor?

Thankfully this will be the end of this particular lawsuit...that is, until next time!

[Ron]

I love Mike Love.  that's to start.

Mike once made a comment that Brian was being manipulated by those around him, and his lawyers, etc. I think it was in the trial over the songwriting credits.

Mike has the same problem.  This is obviously a bunch of trial lawyers blowing smoke up his ass so they get theirs.  If the lawyers had told him a TRUE, HONEST legal opinion from the beginning, he'd know he had no chance of winning this appeal... but for whatever reason, the case was filed anyways.  Hmmm, who benefits from that?  The Lawyers do, because whether it goes to trial or gets won by Mike or not, they got theirs. 

Mike's to the point of near senility if what I've seen him do on television on stage is any measure.  These guys are juicing him, if I was him I'd feel ripped off not by the newspaper or by BRI or whatever it's called, but by my sycophant lawyers. 

I'm not saying all lawyers are like this... i'm saying Mike's lawyers are like this. 

[Eric Aniversario]

I thought that this was dropped a long time ago...what about all those times a couple of years ago that Mike said that all the lawsuits were over and that there was nothing between anybody anymore?

[Wirestone]

Well, he seems not to be suing Brian or Melinda personally anymore. And the stuff with Al is done. This basically just seemed to be filed to see if he could get out of paying attorneys' fees to everyone else in the aftermath of the case. Short answer: He can't.

-----

Begin rant: This case is, I have said since it was filed, such a friggin' outrage. It's the one example where Mike is so clearly, clearly out of line -- he was just looking to poison Brian's success with Smile. That's all it ever was, and played out on a ridiculous pretext of a newspaper giveaway. And the best he could do in the case was introduce forged evidence and lie about where he lived. Great job, Mike. Really spreadin' that fabled positivity. End rant.

[oldsurferdude]

Well, he seems not to be suing Brian or Melinda personally anymore. And the stuff with Al is done. This basically just seemed to be filed to see if he could get out of paying attorneys' fees to everyone else in the aftermath of the case. Short answer: He can't.

-----

Begin rant: This case is, I have said since it was filed, such a friggin' outrage. It's the one example where Mike is so clearly, clearly out of line -- he was just looking to poison Brian's success with Smile. That's all it ever was, and played out on a ridiculous pretext of a newspaper giveaway. And the best he could do in the case was introduce forged evidence and lie about where he lived. Great job, Mike. Really spreadin' that fabled positivity. End rant.

Real sweet!

[runnersdialzero]

Oh Mike. What are we gonna do with you?

[DJ M]

"How Not To File A Lawsuit, Beach Boy Style"

Here's a link to a pretty thorough review of the court's decision:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100709/01463510143.shtml

[the captain]

Yikes.

[T]he district court determined that the copyright claims "bordered on frivolous and were not objectively reasonable" and that they "contributed to the bloat" of a "vastly overpled . . . case."

[the captain]

Haha. Also like "[The district court] dismissed with prejudice three of the Sanctuary defendants ... on the basis of their unopposed motion asserting that they had nothing whatsoever to do with the case."

[Peter Reum]

The whole fiasco sounds like a fishing trip with no fish to bring home...

[Ed Roach]

The whole fiasco sounds like a fishing trip with no fish to bring home...

With bad bait, and no hook on the end of his line...
How are ya', Peter?  Good to have you back around...

[PhilCohen]

The Darth Vader of The Beach Boys got what he so clearly deserved.

[Peter Reum]

Hi Ed! Hope all is well with you!

[jh055]

Hey fellow ML lovers and haters....I am NOT his biggest fan but a friend of mine thought he needed defending and posted up this blog. Hope some of you will read it and leave him some comments!

http://francoombs.blogspot.com/2010/07/word-is-love.htm

Can't figure out how to make this a link - sorry.

[oldsurferdude]

The Darth Vader of The Beach Boys got what he so clearly deserved.

[Shady]

The Darth Vader of The Beach Boys got what he so clearly deserved.

Ouch haha