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Cameo Clips

By Stan Soocher
July 02, 2015

Law Firm's Suit Against Popovich Estate Is Dismissed

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio dismissed a law firm's declaratory action in a legal representation dispute between the firm and the estate of the late record label executive Stephen Popovich, founder of Cleveland International Records. Cooper & Elliot (C & E) v. The Estate of Popovich, 14-cv-505.

C & E represented the Popovich estate in a royalty dispute with Sony Music Entertainment. The firm has claimed it was entitled to a 33.3% contingency fee from the total proceeds of a 2012 settlement with Sony, including from future royalties. The estate claims, however, that C & E are entitled to the contingency percentage only for the past unpaid royalties Sony owed. In 2014, two days after a Tennessee probate court, which oversees the estate, authorized the estate to file a malpractice suit against C & E, the firm sued the estate in the Southern District of Ohio for declaratory relief. Two weeks later, the estate filed a “substantive” lawsuit against the firm in the Northern District of Ohio.

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