Jury Awards ‘Flip This House’ Creator $4 Million
Reality Series Creator Wins Case Against A&E
By Larry Barrett -- Multichannel News, 11/13/2008 9:28:00 AM
A federal jury Wednesday awarded Flip This House creator Richard Davis $4 million in damages after finding that he and A&E, the cable home of the real estate reality show, had an oral agreement to equally share the revenue generated from series.
Davis had claimed the network had a “50/50 revenue sharing agreement” with him and his company, Trademark Properties, Inc. The jury returned the verdict after five hours of deliberation.
“I feel personally vindicated by the jury's verdict finding that I have always had an agreement with A&E,” Davis said in a statement. “This victory is much bigger than me. This verdict makes it clear that if a network uses and profits from someone's concept for a television show, they need to pay for it. I am thankful that we were able to win one for the little guy.”
A&E officials were not immediately available for comment.
In the series, businessmen buy distressed properties, improve them and sell them for a profit.
Brian Wolf, an attorney with Lavely & Singer in Los Angeles, one of the firms representing Davis, in a statement said, “This case reaffirms the enforceability of oral contracts in the television industry."
