A judge ruled Thursday that Sylvester Stallone can move forward with most of his allegations in a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., in which the actor alleges the studio hid profits from the film “Demolition Man” and now owes him his share.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Doyle said there were enough details in the case filed April 12 by the 71-year-old Stallone through his company, Rogue Marble Productions Inc., to support its claims for breach of contract, fraud and unfair business practices. He rejected defense claims that the action was filed too late in violation of the statute of limitations.
However, the judge said the plaintiff’s attorneys will have to shore up their accounting claims if they want those causes of action to remain in the case.
“Demolition Man” was released in 1993 and also starred Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock. When Rogue Marble asked for an accounting in 2014, the studio initially said that the film lost $66,000, Doyle wrote in his ruling.
However, Warner later retracted the statement and sent the plaintiff a check for $2.8 million, according to Doyle.
“The plaintiff could wonder why he was told he was owed nothing, then he gets a $2 million check,” the judge told the attorneys.
Warner Bros. attorney Glenn Pomerantz said the plaintiffs should have attached a copy of the complaint to the lawsuit and given a reasonable interpretation of which provisions do or do not apply.
But Doyle said the lawsuit was generally sufficient at this early stage and that he expects many of the same issues to be raised by the defense in future dismissal motions.
“I don’t think today is the day to unravel all these things,” Doyle said.
