Jury awards Richard C. Davis $4 million in "Flip This House" lawsuit against A&E

By Allyson Bird (Contact)

The Post and Courier

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

A federal jury in Charleston awarded real estate investor Richard C. Davis more than $4 million in damages today in a trial stemming from the "Flip This House" reality television series.

Davis sued cable network A&E, saying he had an oral agreement with A&E to split revenues from the program he created. Davis, of James Island-based Trademark Properties Inc., said he was never paid.

A&E disputed that any agreement existed. Its lawyers declined to provide immediate comment on the ruling, which came after more than five hours of deliberation.

"I'm very pleased with the verdict," said Mount Pleasant attorney Frank M. Cisa, who represented Davis. "These cases are very tough to prove."

For more details, see Thursday's Post and Courier.

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Comments

This article has 6 comment(s)

Posted by mrjm on November 12, 2008 at 5:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Congratulations, Trademark!!!! It WAS a good show for A&E, and it is a good show on TLC. A&E didn't know a good thing when they had it. You guys deserve every penny! Now - put Dawn on the air more often; she's cute!!

Posted by horseshoe on November 12, 2008 at 5:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

don't get too excited, this will surely be appealed and most likely overturned. an oral contract?? please.

Posted by chucktonian on November 12, 2008 at 6:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Oral contract or not, it is not reasonable to expect somebody to work for free and earn millions for a TV network with no compensation. Good for Davis.

Posted by mrjm on November 12, 2008 at 11:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey, A&E -

"What the heck; write a check!!!"

Posted by southbel on November 12, 2008 at 11:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

In business law, an oral contract is just as binding as a written contract, but there's the proving of an oral contract. That's the rub. Although, I too would be inclined to say that it would be highly unusual for anyone to agree to do this series without any type of financial compensation. Thus, the possibility of an oral contract would seem highly likely in this case. I think A&E really dropped the ball on this one.

Posted by ontheroad on November 13, 2008 at 5:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Congrats to you Richard, you deserved to be compensated for what you created and they have been using. Now hopefully that this is over, we will see some new shows on TLC