LOS ANGELES-
A jury determined Tuesday that adventure author Clive Cussler breached his contract and ordered him to pay $5 million to Crusader Entertainment, the production company owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz that turned his novel “Sahara” into a box office flop.
However, the complex ruling left open the possibility Cussler could end up pocketing more than he pays out. Jurors said Superior Court Judge John P. Shook should determine whether Crusader, since renamed Bristol Bay Productions, must pay Cussler about $8 million for the screen rights to a second book.
An attorney for Crusader said his client shouldn’t have to pay Cussler in light of the verdict. “We clearly don’t want the rights to the second film,” Marvin Putnam said.
Cussler attorney Bert Fields said he’s still hopeful the judge will side with his client and the writer will end up with “a net gain of $3 million.”
Cussler smiled and hugged his fiance, Janet Horvath, after the verdict was read.
“I’m relieved that it’s over, and now we can go home,” Cussler said, holding Horvath’s hand.
Jurors heard 14 weeks of testimony and deliberated for eight days before deciding Cussler had breached an “implied covenant of good faith” and inflated book sales when dealing with Crusader.
The decision followed a seven-year struggle to get “Sahara,” starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz, to the big screen.
Cussler sued Crusader in 2004, claiming the company reneged on a contract that gave him approval rights over the film’s screenplay. Cussler, 75, sought $40 million in damages.
Crusader countersued, accusing Cussler of duping it into adapting his book into a film based on an inflated number of novels he had sold over his lifetime.
The company also said Cussler clashed with a fleet of screenwriters brought in to polish the script, tried to get producers to accept his screenplay version and bad-mouthed the film before its April 2005 release.
Crusader asked for more than $110 million in damages.
Putnam called the verdict a victory for his client.
“It’s a massive vindication not only for Crusader and all the people who made the film, but also for the industry at large,” Putnam said.
The case hinged on two key points: what rights were given to Cussler and which side first acted in bad faith.
Cussler maintained the contract gave him sole and absolute rights over the screenplay and a less-authoritative consulting role once filming began.
Crusader’s attorneys argued the company would never have paid Cussler $10 million to adapt a book into a film if it had known the novelist had only sold 40 million novels—not the 100 million he claimed at the time the contract was negotiated in 2000.
Cussler countered he was deceived from the outset and Crusader failed to honor the terms of the contract.
Among those who testified was the film’s director, Breck Eisner, son of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner; producers Howard and Karen Baldwin; and Cussler’s literary agent, Peter Lampack.
But others on the witness list—McConaughey, former Paramount Pictures executive Sherry Lansing and Anschutz—never were called to the stand. Attorneys did play for jurors a videotaped deposition of Anschutz.
Although the film debuted No. 1 at the box office, it grossed only $68 million in the U.S. Crusader’s attorneys claim the movie lost more than $80 million.
Cussler has been called the “Grandmaster of Adventure.” He has written 32 books, 19 of which feature the character Dirk Pitt.
Anschutz is one of the richest men in America. He co-owns the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and a company that operates Los Angeles’ Staples Center.
