The estate of William Faulkner is suing Sony over a line in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris movie.

According to news reports, film star Owen Wilson loosely quotes a line from Faulkner's 1950 book, Requiem for a Nun. Wilson says, "The past is not dead. Actually, it's not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right. And I met him, too. I ran into him at a dinner party." Faulkner's often quoted line actually said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

Despite attributing the line to the Nobel Prize laureate, Faulkner Literary Rights, which represents Faulkner's estate, is suing on the grounds that Sony did not have the "consent to appropriate William Faulkner's name or his works for Sony's advantage" and that the studio's "actions in distributing the Infringing Film were malicious, fraudulent, deliberate and/or willful."

The estate is suing for copyright infringement and is asking for "damages, disgorgement of profits, costs and attorneys fees."  Midnight in Paris is Woody Allen's highest-grossing film, with box-office returns of $151 million worldwide.

"This is a frivolous lawsuit and we are confident we will prevail in defending it," the studio said in a statement. Sony is defending the quotation as "fair use" under copyright law.

—Source: CNNEntertainment

A former Marin County (CA) sheriff's deputy who survived being shot in the jaw during a burglary attempt is being sued by the suspect for returning fire.

Alleged burglar Samuel Cutrufelli filed suit against 90-year-old Jay Leone claiming Leone negligently shot him. According to news reports, Cutrufelli held Leone captive in his house while he ransacked the place looking for valuables. When Leone convinced Cutrufelli to allow him to use the bathroom, Leone returned with his gun, which was hidden in the bathroom. Cutrufelli fired first, hitting Leone in the jaw and prompting Leone to return fire.

“After he shot me, I looked him straight in the eye,” said Leone. “He says, ‘Don’t kill me. Don’t kill me… I’ve got a daughter!’ I said, ‘f- you … pow, pow, pow, pow!’”

Cutrufelli, who is charged with burglary and two counts of attempted murder, rushed Leone and tried to shoot him with his own weapon, but the chambers were empty. Cutrufelli fled the scene and was later arrested.

In his lawsuit against Leone, Cutrufelli is seeking compensation for great bodily injury, and other financial damage, including loss of home and dissolution of marriage. Leone, who responded to reports of the lawsuit from his Marin General Hospital bed, vows to countersue.

—Source: NY Daily News and Huffington Post

A New Orleans Saints' season ticket holder has filed a class-action lawsuit in response to the suspensions handed out as a result of the alleged Saints' bounty program.

David Mancina is seeking damages in excess of $5 million on behalf of himself and other 2012-13 Saints' season ticket holders. The lawsuit names the NFL and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, for their respective roles in the suspension of Saints coaches Sean Payton and Joe Vitt, General Manager Mickey Loomis and players Jonathan Vilma and Will Smith, as well as the forced decision for the Saints to give up their 2012 and 2013 second-round draft choices, "thereby devastating the quality of the Saints, the value of the tickets purchased by Plaintiff...and the confidence and emotional attachment of Plaintiff, and the class, to the Saints."  Mancina claims defendants' actions were taken "without consideration for the rights of the paying ticket holder Plaintiffs."

The lawsuit says the season-ticket holders purchased their tickets expecting "the Saints would be capable of competitively fielding a contending team comprised of the finest athletes, and the best coaches, under contract ... or available to them through normal trades and draft choices, without dictatorial, unreasonable, vindictive, and unfounded, interference from the Commissioner and the League, devoid of due process."

Mancina's lawyer, Lawrence Wiedemann, a Saints fan but not a season ticket-holder, said the ticket holders have been ignored since the investigation started in 2009.

"The fans are a critical part of the NFL," he said. "The tickets you bought have been devalued tremendously and the NFL has given no consideration to the ticket holders that are the life of the NFL. There is no due process."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league has no comment on the lawsuit.

—Source:  nola.com

An Atlantic City casino is suing the manufacturer of decks of cards and lucky gamblers who walked off with over $1.5 in winnings.

Golden Nugget Atlantic City is suing Gemaco, Inc., a Kansas City, Missouri, playing card manufacturer, contending that the cards were unshuffled, despite being promised they were pre-shuffled and ready to use. According to the lawsuit, the alleged error cost the casino more than $1.5 million as the players at the mini-baccarat game increased their bets -- from $10 a hand to over $5,000, after seeing the same sequence of cards dealt over and over. There were forty-one consecutive winning hands. The casino's lawsuit asserts the gamblers and the casino both began the game believing it was legal and proper and that when the players kept winning over and over again it became unfair odds for the casino and, therefore, violated state gambling regulations requiring all casino games to offer fair odds.

"From the beginning to the end of play, however, plaintiff could not identify any particular act of those players that actually constituted swindling and cheating," the casino wrote in its lawsuit. Accordingly, it let nine of the players cash out $558,900 worth of chips. The other players have $977,800 in chips that they have not yet cashed out and their lawyers argue that they should be paid. A countersuit has been filed.

"The Golden Nugget appealed to gamblers to come in and play games licensed and sanctioned by the state of New Jersey," the gamblers' lawyer, Benjamin Dash, said. "My clients did exactly that, and then were denied their winnings. There is absolutely no law in New Jersey that would permit the Golden Nugget to declare the game illegal because it failed to provide shuffled cards."

—Source:  nj.com