Supreme Court of California

In an action brought by a professional model for the misappropriation of his likeness by defendant-Nestle, a court of appeal ruling reversing a trial court jury award of over $15 million is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the trial court erroneously ruled that the single-publication rule does not apply to claims for appropriation of likeness; but 2) the court of appeals erred to the extent that it held that, for purposes of the statute of limitations, plaintiff's cause of action necessarily accrued when Nestle first "published" the label pursuant to the rule of Shively v. Bozanich, 31 Cal.4th 1230 (2003).

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/17/2009
• Published 08/17/2009

Judges

• MORENO, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Horvitz & Levy, David M. Axelrad, Jeremy B. Rosen, John A. Taylor, Jr., Encino;  Heller & Edwards, Lawrence E. Heller, Beverly Hills, and Shula R. Barash for Defendant and Appellant., Davis Wright Tremaine, Kelli L. Sager, Rochelle L. Wilcox, Kevin L. Vick, Los Angeles;  Karlene Goller, Los Angeles;  Jonathan Donellan;  Hallie Michelena;  David Tomlin, Laura Malone;  Thomas W. Newton, Sacramento;  Peter Scheer, San Francisco;  Lucy Dalglish and Gregg Leslie for Los Angeles Times Communications LLC, The Hearst Corporation, Viacom, Inc., The Associated Press, The California Newspaper Publishers Association, The California First Amendment Coalition, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant., Loeb & Loeb, Douglas E. Mirell and W. Allan Edmiston, Los Angeles, for Motion Picture Association of America, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant., Law Offices of Colin C. Claxon, Colin C. Claxon, San Rafael;  Mayer & Glassman Law Corporation, Robert David Mayer, Los Angeles;  Kibre & Horwitz, Eric G. Stockel, Beverly Hills;  and David J. Franklyn for Plaintiff and Respondent., Duncan W. Crabtree-Ireland, Los Angeles, and Danielle S. Van Lier for Screen Actors Guild, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Respondent., Reich, Adell & Cvitan, Laurence S. Zakson and William Y. Sheh, Los Angeles, for American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO, as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Respondent.