Bernal

Bernal v. PARADIGM TALENT AND LITERARY AGENCY

Good Law

788 F. Supp. 2d 1043·2010 WL 6397587·2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142573

United States District Court, Central District of CaliforniaFebruary 22, 2010CV 07-6445 SVW (PLAx)California13,192 words

Opinion

Wilson, J.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [35] [JS-6]

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendants American Broadcasting Company (“ABC”) and Marc Cherry move for summary judgment against Plaintiff Jill Bernal. Plaintiff claims that the television show Desperate Housewives was copied from Plaintiffs screenplay Homeless. For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ Motion.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff completed her screenplay Homeless in 2002, and registered it with the Writer’s Guild of America on November 19, 2002. In order to market her script, Plaintiff submitted her screenplay to various actors and producers. In early 2003, Plaintiff contacted the talent agency Paradigm to receive permission to submit her screenplay to Andrew Ruf, the talent agent for actor Billy Zane. (Plaintiffs Genuine Issues of Material Fact in Opposition to Summary Judgment [“GIMF”] 11-12.) Plaintiff spoke to Rufs assistant Jack Kingrud, and obtained permission to submit her screenplay. (Id.) On April 29, 2003, Plaintiff contends that she mailed the screenplay to Paradigm along with a cover letter briefly describing Homeless, as well as three other works. (GIMF 13.) Plaintiff contends that on…

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Parties

Jill BERNAL P/K/A and D/B/A Jillian L’Amour, an Individual
Plaintiff
PARADIGM TALENT AND LITERARY AGENCY, Business Entity Form Unknown Doing Business in California, Marc Cherry, an Individual, American Broadcasting Company, Inc., a Corporation Doing Business in California
Defendant

Judges

Stephen v. Wilson

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