News Munchies
Thorny Relationship Ends for Rosie
Originally Posted
Updated
Well, it ain't Enron, but publisher Grunar + Jahr USA apparently inflated circulation and financial figures in their bid to first keep her involved, then to oust Rosie O'Donnell from her namesake magazine, which published its final issue in Dec 2002 (see Magazine No Longer 'Coming Up Roses' for O'Donnell).
Lot of good it did them.
And strangely, though their action looks damning, it didn't help Rosie much either.
In preliminary comments, Judge Ira Gammerman said that neither Rosie, a former television talk-show host among other things, nor the publisher of Rosie magazine was going to receive damages from the other party.
In a masterful stroke judicial impartiality and thoughtfulness, about 30 seconds after the attorneys rested their cases, the Supreme Court justice said, "It seems to me ... we're just dealing with bragging rights here, who wins and who loses." Guess His Honor didn't know that this is what most lawsuits are about -- who wins and who loses.
He said neither side had providing convincing evidence that the other party had caused them damages. The magazine simply lost money and went out of business, Gammerman said. "There's no evidence that the magazine would have made any money at all."
The publishers had sued Rosie for $100 million for breach of contract (see Magazine Says Rosie Relationship Torpedoed by 'Uber Bitch'); O'Donnell had countersued for $125 million, saying that Grunar + Jahr undermined editorial control that she believed should have been hers.
Goes to show you, when elephants mate, there's a lot of bellowing and trumpeting, everything occurs at a high level, and it takes two years to produce results.
In this case, no positive results for anyone except the lawyers' bank accounts.