Additional Damages Awarded to Celador

LOS ANGELES: A California District Court has awarded Celador International $50 million in prejudgment interest, in addition to the previously awarded $269.4 million in damages in its case against The Walt Disney Company.

Judge Virginia A. Phillips of the United States District Court for the Central District of California awarded the additional interest yesterday. Disney also agreed not to challenge Celador’s right to prejudgment interest and will not appeal the $50 million award. This brings the total judgment against Disney to $319.4 million.

A federal jury awarded the damages to Celador in July after unanimously finding that ABC Television, Buena Vista Television and Valleycrest Productions had breached their contract to share profits from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. The suit was first filed in 2004. Celador maintained it was to receive a fifty-fifty share in expected profits from the show. But, accountings generated by Disney reported that the successful series never make a profit—rather, Disney said, it generated over $70 million in "losses" for Disney. The jury found otherwise after a four-week trial.