Trial Update: Richard Davis on the Stand

Allyson Bird at the Charleston Post and Courier continues with her excellent reporting on the Trademark Trial.  Some excerpts:

Davis claims A&E violated a verbal agreement to split any revenue after expenses from the “Flip This House” TV show that documented Davis’ risk-taking real estate business, Trademark Properties Inc. Davis’ testimony took nearly all of Wednesday, the second day in the jury trial in U.S. District Court.

…

Davis asserted he was never paid for his efforts toward “Flip This House,” which often demanded 80 hours of his time per week. He also was never reimbursed for an estimated $92,000 in expenses, he said.

He testified that he was told the first episode drew nearly 1 million viewers with no promotion outside of A&E.

But when Davis asked for rough cuts of the show or a copy of a contract from a third-party production company, he encountered roadblocks, he said. By then the person with whom he said he made the verbal agreement for the 50-50 revenue split no longer worked for A&E.

That man, Charles Norlander, called Davis “Crazy Richard” in an e-mail to an A&E representative and offered to speak with Davis after Davis threatened to shut down the show.

“Knowing his ego, he probably really believes that you wouldn’t/couldn’t do the show without him,” Norlander wrote.

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In court documents, A&E disclosed that the show generated about $13.7 million in revenue and $5.9 million in expenses its first season; $9.3 million in revenue and $4.6 million in expenses its second season; and $11.8 million in revenue and $9.9 million in expenses its third season.