Law360 featured Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner M.C. Sungaila in an article about a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hearing in which she represented MGA Entertainment Inc. in an appeal of a summary judgement ruling.
A district court ruled that MGA breached a contract with Viacom governing ad sales and production of a TV show.
Here is an excerpt:
“This case is about a 20-year business relationship that turned sour after Viacom failed to regularly schedule and promote an award-winning TV series created around one of MGA’s popular toy lines, Lalaloopsy,” Sungaila said.
Sungaila’s comments came during a hearing on an appeal of a trial court’s ruling that granted Viacom summary judgment on all of its breach-of-contract claims against MGA and all of MGA's counterclaims against the media giant. In September 2016, the district court found MGA owes $14.9 million in damages for the breaches.
MGA appealed the summary judgment rulings, with Sungaila arguing before a panel Thursday that Viacom suspended the program during the “critical” holiday period in an effort to get MGA to pay a $3.5 million guarantee under their co-finance agreement. In doing so, Viacom created a domino effect on their business relationship, impacting their advertising agreements across all of MGA's products, Sungaila said. Ultimately, Viacom put its own property interest above MGA's, she said.
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