Joan Collins has starring role in lawsuit

Task 9. Answer the questions.

Task 8. Complete the following sentences translating the words in brackets.

1. (Судді) are the decision makers, the key officials around whom all else is arranged.

2. Beyond these are the clerical and administrative personnel: secretaries, (секретарі суду) and their staffs, judicial educators, and court administrators.

3. American courts depend on lawyers (представляти інтереси сторін у суді) and to develop the evidence and the legal arguments.

4. There are many other private (колегії адвокатів), often based on areas of legal specialization.

5. A lawyer who has never been a judge can become a judge (в найвищому суді) or an intermediate appellate court or trial court, in either a state or the federal system.

6. Lawyers who come on the bench at the trial or intermediate appellate levels have no real (обов’язок) of moving to a higher court.

1. What people are involved in court cases in the US?

2. How do judges in the United States initially come to the bench?

3. Do they follow a promotional pattern through the ranks of the judiciary?

4. What methods of judicial recruitment and promotion are used in the United States?

5. Who is essential to ensure the full and fair presentation of cases?

6. What is each lawyer’s obligation?

7. Whose matters are the admission to the practice of law and the governance of the legal profession?

8. What is the American Bar Association?

9. What are the requirements for admission to the bar?

10. Is there a formal division within the legal profession in the US?

11. What are typical areas of specialization among the US lawyers?

Task 10. Study the article below & answer the questions.

1. What are the names of the plaintiff and the defendant in the lawsuit?

2. What was the issue at the heart of the dispute?

3. What were the claims of both parties?

4. How did the Random House editor describe the manuscript?

5. How did Joan Collins’ attorney build up the defense?

6. What was the jury’s verdict?

Reuter and Associated Press

NEW YORK

British actress Joan Collins made her debut Tuesday in a New York courtroom, battling publishing giant Random House over a multimillion-dollar book contract. Random House is suing Collins, demanding the return of a $1.2 million advance paid to her for manuscripts it claims were unfinishable and unpublishable. Collins, best known for playing the scheming Alexis Carrington in the television series Dynasty, has countersued for $3.6 million she claims the publishing house still owes her.

Collins said she “felt completely shattered and let down” by the lawsuit. “It has seriously upset my writing career and my reputation,” she said.

The dispute centered on a simple question: what is a completed manuscript?

Delivering the opening argument for Random House, attorney Robert Callagy said Collins had not met the terms of her contract and had to return the advance money. “Miss Collins should be treated like any other person,” Callagy said. “If you sign the contract, you must perform.”

Former Random House editor Joni Evans testified that in 1991, when she first read Collins’ manuscript, she felt ‘alarmed’. “It just wasn’t working in any shape or form,” said Evans, now a literary agent. “It was no good. It wasn’t grounded in reality. It was dull, primitive and rough. It was clichйd in plot.”

Collins’ attorney, Kenneth David Burrows, argued that the actress had submitted two complete manuscripts, A Ruling Passion, written in 1991 at her home in France, and a second manuscript with the working title Hell Hath No Fury. Thus she had turned in the required number of words and therefore had complied with the contract. He also said Random House should have provided her with editing and advice but instead it was trying to avoid meeting its obligations. He argued earlier that under the 1990 book deal she was guaranteed the money even if the publisher rejected the book.

Verdict. The jury decided that Collins had completed one manuscript in compliance with her contract. But Random House did not have to pay her for the second manuscript because it was merely a rehashing of the first one and not a separate piece of work. The verdict meant Collins could keep the advance and collect more from Random House, though how much more remained in dispute.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-17