Overachieving Weinsteins Already Hit With Their Second Lawsuit Of 2009
Despite seeing the threat coming, the Weinstein Company never bothered to dodge a new lawsuit from the surviving half of Sam & Dave — the allegedly uncredited sources for last year's bomb Soul Men.
Sam Moore filed suit today in Nashville, accusing the Weinsteins of raping and pillaging from his career performing with partner Dave Prater. The pair was adversarial to say the least, informing Samuel Jackson and Bernie Mac's own depraved duo on tour throughout America. Moore, however, says it wasn't quite that raw on the road, and either way, someone's needs to pay for his and Prater's implosive career models:
The lawsuit states that the movie "constitutes serious insult to Sam Moore's reputation, his talent, his legacy and his long-held personal views and beliefs" due to its "tawdry content."
It accuses the filmmakers of invasion of privacy, unfair competition and trademark dilution (although the complaint does not cite any evidence that Moore ever registered the "Soul Man" trademark). Moore seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and asks the court to order the "recall and destruction of all infringing versions of the movie."
The Weinsteins — who already have A-list litigators David Boies and Bert Fields chewing on Lionsgate in their battle for Push — assigned their junior henchmen to this one. They dismiss Moore pretty much out of hand, and, as the report goes on to note, Moore's likely take-home from a mere $12 million grosser isn't enough to warrant a sweat on either side. But if he's anything like us, the "recall and destruction" clause sounds plenty appealing, leaving merely the opening and closing credits and Isaac Hayes's scenes. Harvey's scissor-hand needs exercise anyway. Justice delayed is justice denied.