Woah. What?
It’s like the Curse of the Little Dragon that so many have spread rumors about…so surreal
ALPS Served A Stranger In Bruce Lee Movie Suit, Co. Says
By Kat Sieniuc
Law360, New York (December 9, 2016, 9:17 PM EST) – A Beijing-based film production company suing an entertainment lawyer over a soured deal for the rights to a Bruce Lee biopic fought back in Virginia federal court on Friday against a bid for default judgment by the lawyer’s insurer, saying BigLaw’s ALPS served the wrong person.
The Attorney Liability Protection Society asked the court to declare it wasn’t liable for covering or defending attorney Bennett Fidlow related to claims brought by Chinese company Kylin Network Movie and Culture Media Company Ltd. over a rights deal gone bad for a movie about martial arts star Bruce Lee.
But Kylin says that an affidavit meant for its CEO “Pang Hong,” also known as “James Pang" was instead delivered to a “Mr. Leo Shi Young,” who is neither an employee of Kylin nor authorized to accept service. Since its CEO was never served, Kylin said, the court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hand out the default judgment ALPS is looking for.
“When service of process is ineffective, a court does not acquire personal jurisdiction over a party, and a default judgment resulting from such defective service is void,” Kylin said in its motion, quoting another case.
The Chinese company added, “there is no evidence that the service on Mr. Young, an unrelated person and party, constitutes good service under California law.”
Counsel for ALPS did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.
ALPS brought its lawsuit in May seeking to duck coverage for Kylin’s suit against Fidlow. According to ALPS’ request for a “no coverage” declaration, Fidlow had a falling out with its client Kylin going back to at least April 2015.
That was when Kylin notified the lawyer of its intention to sue him over an alleged conflict of interest and fraud in a deal he helped broker for the rights to produce “Birth of a Dragon,” according to the complaint.
The company alleges that Fidlow, formerly of Virginia firm Schroder Fidlow PLC, first notified ALPS of the likelihood of a lawsuit on July 28, 2015, less than two weeks after his one-year ALPS policy coverage period began.
But the company said Kylin had previously warned Fidlow that a malpractice suit was forthcoming. That previous notification precludes coverage for Kylin’s suit filed in September, according to the company.
Because the lawsuit “is outside the coverage afforded by the Schroder Fidlow policy, ALPS is entitled to a declaratory judgment in its favor … declaring that the Schroder Fidlow policy does not afford coverage for the underlying suit and ALPS has no duty to defend and/or indemnify Fidlow,” the filing said.
The underlying California state suit revolves around a 2014 deal struck between Bliss Media Ltd. and Kylin on the financing and production of the Bruce Lee movie, according to the original complaint.
After execution of a partnership agreement, Fidlow jointly represented Bliss and Kylin in their efforts to obtain the rights to the movie, the documents say. The partners and another entity, QED Pictures, also executed a financing deal in which Kylin paid QED $1 million for certain rights to the production, according to ALPS.
Kylin alleges that it was advised months later that QED never held any rights to the movie, and the actual holder was a separate entity called QED Holdings LLC. Kylin said it was able to retrieve funds from QED but was refused the return of a separate $1 million paid to Bliss.
ALPS is represented by Timothy Baird and Jeremy Williams of Kutak Rock LLP.
Kylin is represented by J. Chapman Petersen and Stephen P. Pierce of Surovell Isaacs Petersen & Levy PLC.
The case is ALPS Property & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Fidlow et al., case number 3:16-cv-00276, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
–Additional reporting by Andrew Strickler. Editing by Mark Lebetkin.
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