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Rebecca Musical PR Agent Liable, But Damages Low

By Jason Grant
June 02, 2017

A jury has handed down a mixed verdict in the trial of a Broadway press agent accused of scaring off an angel investor who stood ready to save the ill-fated production Rebecca — The Musical. After two days of deliberations, a six-person jury in Manhattan Supreme Court cleared publicist Marc Thibodeau of defamation but found him liable for tortious interference with prospective business relations. Rebecca Broadway v. Hotton, 65369/12.

Thibodeau already had been found liable by Commercial Division Justice Jeffrey Oing, at the summary judgment stage, for breach of his agent contract with Rebecca.

However, the jury — in a decision that case lawyers on both sides said was curious — awarded only $5,000 for breach of contract and $85,000 for tortious interference to plaintiff Rebecca Broadway Limited Partnership, the production company behind the never-made show. Producers from the partnership, including Broadway show veterans Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza, had been asking for more than $10 million.

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