Judge: HFPA case to trial

A federal judge ruled that the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.'s case against Dick Clark Prods. should go to trial, deciding that there were "numerous genuine disputes of material fact" over the rights to the Golden Globes.U.S. District Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank's ruling, issued on Tuesday, was not a complete surprise given the competing interpretations of a 1993 amendment to an earlier agreement that appeared to give DCP perpetual rights to produce the telecast as long as they could land a broadcast deal with NBC.The HFPA sued DCP in November, claiming that it did not have the right to forge a new long term pact with NBC last October without its consent. The agreement was to start next year and run through 2018.The trial is scheduled to start on Aug. 30.The case is expected to center on whether the parties in 1993 "validly entered into a contract term for unlimited, unilateral extensions," as Fairbank wrote in her opinion.A trial will undoubtedly highlight past friction between HFPA and its longtime producer, but it also stands to bring to the fore past disputes between the press org's members.The HFPA claims its then-President, Mirjana Van Blaricom, did not have the authority to sign an agreement with such a clause. They claim that a rep for DCP back then, Frances La Maina, represented to the members at a 1993 meeting that the contract had a finite number of options. Van Blaricom, who started her own rival press association in the mid-1990s, has said that she had authority to sign the agreement.But Fairbank also noted that the parties "genuinely dispute" whether the HFPA followed its bylaws in executing contracts.Fairbank also wrote that the interpretation of the contract will require "assessing the credibility of numerous pieces of conflicting evidence," including whether Van Blaricom and La Maina discussed the disputed provision and "the parties' intent in advance of executing the contract."Also up for consideration is what DCP's exercise of options in 2001 said about the interpretation of the 1993 contract. But there's also question as to whether the HFPA's board and membership approved the2001 NBC deal. Contact Ted Johnson at ted.johnson@variety.com