Hollywood lawyers dining out on "Roger Rabbit"

By Matthew Belloni

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Toward the end of Robert Zemeckis' 1988 animated/live action mystery "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," a distraught Roger confronts the aptly named Judge Doom, who, it has become clear, set the rabbit up for the murder of Toontown magnate Marvin Acme.

"So you thought you could get away with it, didn't you?" Roger says. "Ha! We toons may act idiotic, but we're not stupid. We demand justice!"

Twenty years later, Gary Wolf, the science fiction author whose 1981 novel formed the loose basis of the hit movie, is still fighting his own crusade for cartoon justice -- or at least a pile of money from Disney, which released the film.

Unfortunately for Wolf, he hasn't been as successful as his hare-brained creation.

Mention the Wolf case to seasoned entertainment litigators and you'll hear either a groan or a chuckle depending on which side of the talent-vs.-studios battle the lawyer fights. The case already has spawned at least two significant judicial setbacks for profit participants trying to collect damages from studios. And just last week, a California court of appeal sent a portion of the case back to the trial court, illustrating the uphill and often unending battle facing talent who dare challenge studio accounting.

Like many authors, Wolf signed a 1983 option agreement that gave him 5% of "gross receipts" from Disney's exploitation of neurotic Roger, curvy Jessica Rabbit, cigar-chomping Baby Herman and the rest of his characters. The parties didn't bother to define "gross receipts" (hey, this was the early 1980s), and Wolf later claimed that he was owed millions for his share of everything from nonmonetary promotional partnerships with McDonalds to the value of Roger Rabbit "walk arounds" at Disney theme parks.

Strike 1 against Wolf came in 2003, when the court ruled that the right to collect contingent compensation from Disney doesn't create a "fiduciary" relationship with the studio. The limitation seems minor, but a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit could entitle a participant like Wolf to punitive damages, which often are as much as 10 times the damages as a mere contract claim. Thanks in part to Wolf, that leverage largely has disappeared in profits cases.

"It's a major problem now," says Neville Johnson, a litigator who has brought accounting claims against studios. "It's not a good case for us."