~~., ~.ut~awi..,...r~ ~~.r~i( ~u~aeRIC~CNAo CaED is 1 KINSELLA WEITZMAN ISER KUMP & ALDISERT LLP ounh• nt ~ os n~^a!~c ~ DALE F. KINSELLA(SBN 063370) 2 [email protected] !~~T 1 '7 SUANN C. MACISAAC(SBN 205659) ~~1~ Sherri t~. O 3 [email protected] C:aRer, txec~uve .;;;;ceo/~ter;~ 808 Wilshire Boulevard, 3rd Floor By Marra Guadian, Q~,~~;y 4 Santa Monica, California 90401 Telephone: 310.566.9800 5 Facsimile: 310.566.9850 6 Attorneys for R~a~r~ti~~:;~Teal Moritz and Neal H. Moritz, Inc. 7 8 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA a a a 9 COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, WEST DISTRICT N w 10 .. o A ~ ~ 11 `~ °o~ !,$SMC1d00036 ~ °o~o rn ~ 12 NEAL MORITZ and NEAL H. MORITZ, Case No. m Qo INC., ~ °~ r~ 13 COMPLAINT FOR: x~ >~~Q°~ 14 Plaintiffs, (1) BREACH OF ORAL CONTRACT; r~ ~ U H mQo U VS. (2) BREACH OF IMPLIED CONTRACT 7 ~z~ 15 ~ =o ff (ALTERNATIVE); ~ ~~~ 16 ~ ~z~~- L7NIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, LLC, a (3) PROMISSORY FRAUD ~o Q m 17 Belaware limited liability company, FFSO ~ 00 ~w PRODUCTIONS LLC, a Delaware limited ~ ~ a 18 liability company, and DOES 1 through 50, DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL a inclusive, 19 Defendants. 20 Deadline 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 10054.00001/601657 COMPLAINT 1 Plaintiffs Neal Moritz and Neal H. Moritz, Inc. (collectively, "Plaintiffs" or "Moritz"), by 2 and through their attorneys of record, allege the following causes of action against Defendants 3 Universal City Studios, LLC, FFSO Productions LLC (collectively, "Defendants" or "Universal") 4 I I and Does 1-50: 5 INTRODUCTION 6 1. This case presents a classic example of Hollywood greed. Plaintiff Neal Moritz is a 7 ~ preeminent producer of motion pictures and television with over $10 billion in worldwide box 8 office success, ranking Moritz as the fifth highest grossing motion picture producer of all time. a, a 9 on the a Moritz is undisputedly one of the main forces behind the blockbuster franchise based H W 10 original motion picture The Fast and the Furious (the "FF Franchise"). It is no exaggeration to o A o ~~ 11 state that Moritz has been involved in every aspect of the FF Franchise from its inception until ~o~ ~ o rn ~ 12 today. ~ MQo ~ ~~ 13 2. In or around 1999, Moritz had just completed the production of The Skulls, which x ~~0 W ~~`; 14 was directed by Rob Cohen and starred Paul Walker. Moritz pitched Cohen and Walker on the ~ mQo 15 idea of reteaming for a film based on a magazine article that Universal had optioned about illegal z~ =o~z~°' ~ ~'~~ 16 street racing in New York City. Walker and Cohen immediately signed onto the project, which at M ~ Z ~ W O ~ ~''~ 17 the time was known as Racer X. Moritz came up with the idea to cast Vin Diesel in the iconic role J a ~ 18 I, of Dom Toretto and later convinced him to take the role. This was the genesis of FF Franchise, w 19 which has been distributed to enormous success by Universal. x ZO 3. The FF FranchiseDeadline includes eight major motion pictures—The Fast and the Furious 21 (2001), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast &Furious 22 (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast &Furious 6(2013), Furious 7(2015), and The Fate ofthe Furious 23 (2017). Notably, Moritz has been the lead producer and common denominator on all of the above 24 films, which at times have involved different directors, writers, casts and studio executives. Moritz 25 is the only key talent who has been involved in all eight of the films. 26 4. The main theme in all of the Fast and Furious films is the importance of family 27 and loyalty. Up until the recent events described below, the key players who contributed to the 28 enormous success of the FF Franchise were in many ways like a family. Moritz, along with many 10054.00001/601657 COMPLAINT of the cast, writers, directors, and studio executives working on the films, grew up together in Hollywood, celebrated enormous success together, and grieved together. Moritz, along with Vin Diesel, are the key patriarchs of the FF Franchise. 5. Moritz's contributions and personal dedication to the FF Franchise isfar above that of a typical producer. Over the years, Universal relied on Moritz's dedication and strong relationships with the cast, writers and various directors who worked on the films to ensure the FF Franchise's mega-success. The very close working relationship between Universal and Moritz 8 over the last approximately twenty years, makes Universal's betrayal of Moritz as described herein a a a 9 that much more egregious and disgraceful. N x ever, w 10 6. As of May 2017, the FF Franchise became Universal's biggest franchise m o A ~ ~ 11 grossing over $5 billion. On information and belief, the FF Franchise is currently reported to be `~ °o~ °o than most franchises ~ ~oc~o ~~ 12 the sixth-highest grossing film series of all time. Remarkably, and different M Q O ~ ~M 13 in Hollywood, the later films in FF Franchise have been even more popular than the original x ~~0 J Ll.. 14 movie. It is also one of the few major franchises not based onpre-existing intellectual property, r,~~U• 0 FBI m U p 15 making its success even more remarkable. ¢ ~o °~' success, one would assume that Universal N ~~~a 16 7. Against this backdrop of enormous 0 W o~M 17 would be grateful to Moritz and would adhere to its contractual commitments to him. ►~ OO J w da' ~" 18 Unfortunately, that has not been the case. As explained in detail below, despite reaching an oral a w and z 19 agreement with Moritz back in 2017, regarding the production of Hobbs and Shaw ("Hobbs x 20 Shaw" or the "Picture")Deadline—which is the next film in the FF Franchise and based on an idea 21 developed by Moritz and screenwriter, Chris MorganUniversal has denied the parties' 22 agreement, and cut Moritz out of the production. This occurred only after Moritz had developed 23 the Picture for over a year and a half with Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and, once he agreed to 24 come on board, the director, David Leitch. 25 8. In an extraordinary show of bad faith, and just a few days before filming was set to 26 begin on Hobbs and Shaw, Universal took the position that Moritz either had to amend his oral 27 producer deal to accept substantially inferior financial terms, or be cut out of the Picture 28 altogether. Remarkably, despite Moritz having complete Pay-or-Play protection on all of his last 10054.00001/601657 COMPLAINT 1 several deals on the FF Franchise and having relied on Universal's oral promises, Universal also 2 took the extraordinary position that it was free to exploit Moritz's ideas for Hobbs and Sha~~, and 3 his work product over an approximately year-and-a-half period, without honoring its oral producer 4 ~ ~ agreement. Indeed, Universal has claimed that it can move forward with Hobbs and Shaw without 5 providing Moritz with any credit or compensation. This is an enormous betrayal by Universal of 6 ~ ~ the producer that shepherded the studio its most successful franchise of all time. Indeed, there 7 were many years when a Fast and Furious movie was the only bright spot in Universal's slate of 8 films. a bad faith and a 9 9. When Moritz refused to go along with Universal's extraordinary N W 10 ~ fraud, Universal banned him from the production of Hobbs and Shaw. If Universal believes that it m ~ o producers with such extraordinary bad faith, one can only aA o~~`~ 11 can treat one of its most successful ~3 ~~~ 12 imagine how Universal treats its lesser established producers. ~ i~ao p ~~~ 13 10. As plead in detail below, California law does not allow for such a wholly unfair x Q o ,~ ~ ~ ~`; 14 '', ~ result. Universal must be specifically forced to fully perform on its oral producer agreement with ~ mQo Moritz as alleged herein, including by fully compensating him under the oral agreement and ~ ~Z~ 15 z o '°~ N ~~° 16 crediting him as the lead producer on the Picture. ~ ~z~ w o~M 17 1 1. In the alternative, Universal is liable to Moritz for tens of millions dollars in OO J w Moritz, stealing and ~ Ig damages in lost compensation for breaching its producer agreement with a w z 19 exploiting his ideas for Hobbs and Shaw, and for various fraudulent promises and representations x 20 that were made to MoritzDeadline over an approximately year-and-a-half period to induce him to continue 21 working on the Picture. Universal will also be liable to Moritz for tens of millions of additional 22 dollars in reputational damage that he will inevitably suffer if the studio fails to fully credit him as 23 the lead producer on the Picture. 24 JURISDICTION AND VENUE 25 12. Jurisdiction is proper in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County 26 of Los Angeles pursuant to section 410.10 of the Code of Civil Procedure. 27 13. Venue is proper in Los Angeles County, California pursuant to section 392 et seq. 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure because Los Angeles County is where Defendants have their 10054.00001/601657 COMPLAINT 1 principal pace of business and is where the contract at issue was entered into, where it has been 2 ~ performed, and where the breaches have occurred.