Trump says he's struck back at Univision with US$500M lawsuit

[F430murci]

Univision paid for the right to broadcast (not produce) the Miss Universe pageant. Now it has decided not to broadcast the event. As a result Univision will simply absorb the cost of the fee as the price to protect its market.

Where is there a breach of contract or denial of Trump's first amendment rights?

There is none.

However, Trumps anti-hispanic rants would damage Univision who serves largely a hispanic audience. Univision should sue Trump for the cost of its fee and Trump can find someone else to broadcast the event. Maybe he could put it on YouTube.

Huh? What the heck are you talking about. Read Paragraph 23 of the Complaint . . ., in fact . . . Read the whole Complaint. Univision is welcome to sue Trump, however, I don't think there are any lawyers out there that can figure out a legal basis for your theories.

[Chicog]

Univision paid for the right to broadcast (not produce) the Miss Universe pageant. Now it has decided not to broadcast the event. As a result Univision will simply absorb the cost of the fee as the price to protect its market.

Where is there a breach of contract or denial of Trump's first amendment rights?

There is none.

However, Trumps anti-hispanic rants would damage Univision who serves largely a hispanic audience. Univision should sue Trump for the cost of its fee and Trump can find someone else to broadcast the event. Maybe he could put it on YouTube.

It's probably more complicated than that. Sponsors may have been arranged on the basis that it was being broadcast to an audience of millions of Latinos, and those sponsors may want their money back. Trump has always been an expert at getting other people to pay for things he owns.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Chicog

[Anthony5]

You can act your laughing all you want, but these contracts are not unique. Most of what my firm does (60% or more) is entertainment law dealing with TV contracts, record contracts, athletic contracts and etc. I know the clauses in these types of contracts well. Neither Trump nor Belkin Burden are dummies. Why not read the complaint as it is online . . .

This was a calculated business decision by Univision during a hotly contested political climate. These type of decisions are made all the time and the bean counter risk managers already now the impact. The case will settle.

Strange, not so long ago you were one of the leaders in class action suits, but some months later you specialized in something else, and today it is entertainment law you specialize.

Are you sure you are a real lawyer, or just watch too much movies?

[Publicus]

You can act your laughing all you want, but these contracts are not unique. Most of what my firm does (60% or more) is entertainment law dealing with TV contracts, record contracts, athletic contracts and etc. I know the clauses in these types of contracts well. Neither Trump nor Belkin Burden are dummies. Why not read the complaint as it is online . . .

This was a calculated business decision by Univision during a hotly contested political climate. These type of decisions are made all the time and the bean counter risk managers already now the impact. The case will settle.

Strange, not so long ago you were one of the leaders in class action suits, but some months later you specialized in something else, and today it is entertainment law you specialize.

Are you sure you are a real lawyer, or just watch too much movies?

Last year he wuz a medical malpractice lawyer representing hospitals or some such.

As to Trump the chump, he had thought his running for president simply meant he could mouth off freely as the rich right wing crackpot drunk does at the cocktail lounge and simply sign more checks to pay for the adventure and the personal indulgence of flying around the country to mouth off exactly what he believes.

He's finding out however that running for president is not a game to play, that people examine your every body cavity, especially when all he does is speak out of that one single body cavity. And it's costing him. Nobody likes to take a hit in the wallet and that is again what's happening to this on the loose yoyo.

What had started out as a strictly high visibility and personally indulged entertainment tour has instantly become a signaturte Trump farce and another Republican party nightmare.

[F430murci]

You can act your laughing all you want, but these contracts are not unique. Most of what my firm does (60% or more) is entertainment law dealing with TV contracts, record contracts, athletic contracts and etc. I know the clauses in these types of contracts well. Neither Trump nor Belkin Burden are dummies. Why not read the complaint as it is online . . .

This was a calculated business decision by Univision during a hotly contested political climate. These type of decisions are made all the time and the bean counter risk managers already now the impact. The case will settle.

Strange, not so long ago you were one of the leaders in class action suits, but some months later you specialized in something else, and today it is entertainment law you specialize.

Are you sure you are a real lawyer, or just watch too much movies?

If you notice, I said my firm is 60% or more entertainment. I work in a large firm with offices in Nashville, LA and New York (music cities) that has huge entertainment divisions. I am primarily a medical and securities guy, but I also represent BMI and Sony most of which I have younger associates handle. A large chunk of my medical practice is defective drug and medical device class action, but I also handle a tremendous amount of FLSA and securities class action.

Perhaps read more closely before trying to call me out.

Edited July 1, 2015 by F430murci

[F430murci]

You can act your laughing all you want, but these contracts are not unique. Most of what my firm does (60% or more) is entertainment law dealing with TV contracts, record contracts, athletic contracts and etc. I know the clauses in these types of contracts well. Neither Trump nor Belkin Burden are dummies. Why not read the complaint as it is online . . .

This was a calculated business decision by Univision during a hotly contested political climate. These type of decisions are made all the time and the bean counter risk managers already now the impact. The case will settle.

Strange, not so long ago you were one of the leaders in class action suits, but some months later you specialized in something else, and today it is entertainment law you specialize.

Are you sure you are a real lawyer, or just watch too much movies?

Last year he wuz a medical malpractice lawyer representing hospitals or some such.

As to Trump the chump, he had thought his running for president simply meant he could mouth off freely as the rich right wing crackpot drunk does at the cocktail lounge and simply sign more checks to pay for the adventure and the personal indulgence of flying around the country to mouth off exactly what he believes.

He's finding out however that running for president is not a game to play, that people examine your every body cavity, especially when all he does is speak out of that one single body cavity. And it's costing him. Nobody likes to take a hit in the wallet and that is again what's happening to this on the loose yoyo.

What had started out as a strictly high visibility and personally indulged entertainment tour has instantly become a signaturte Trump farce and another Republican party nightmare.

The sad part is Sharpton et al makes just as bad public statements about race and no one does anything.

Trump has all he needs and is willing to speak his mind. I would never vote for the guy, but I respect him for having balls which is exceedingly rare among politicians today.

Still do represent hospitals, but do you really think that is all good lawyers do is represent one type of client. Nope, good lawyers skilled in litigation have skills transferable to many areas and are paid huge hourly rates to represent large companies looking for the best litigators regardless of subject matter.

Edited July 1, 2015 by F430murci

[NeverSure]

Trump is a master at self promotion, regardless of what anyone thinks of him personally. I think he must follow this old quote and I'm not sure which famous person first said it many years ago.

"I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right."

[sdanielmcev]

Trump is a master at self promotion, regardless of what anyone thinks of him personally. I think he must follow this old quote and I'm not sure which famous person first said it many years ago.

"I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right."

PT Barnum

[nkped]

The 1st Amendment claim isn't even colorable. Univision isn't the government. As to breach of contract, they made a business decision. If they do have to pay damages, they could reasonably believe that will cost them less than continuing to do business with Trump.

[F430murci]

The 1st Amendment claim isn't even colorable. Univision isn't the government. As to breach of contract, they made a business decision. If they do have to pay damages, they could reasonably believe that will cost them less than continuing to do business with Trump.

Yep, this was a business that was evaluated by the bean counters and lawyers. Nothing more, nothing less. They already know what they will have to pay. Trump will grand stand for a while to prove a point, but this case will settle and everyone will move on.

[wangsuda]

The 1st Amendment claim isn't even colorable. Univision isn't the government.

Exactly. The first amendment prettyy much states what the US government cannot do:

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Original wording:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

Trump is blowing smoke and people are buying it.

[Usernames]

Good on you, Trump. The fourth estate is supposed to be reporting the news, not being the news. Univision may find out being 'offended' isn't allowed in their contract.

Actually it is. Univision is a media network that offers multiservice programming specifically targeted at the Spanish language population in the USA.

It's viewers are majority Hispanic. It's advertisers are specifically targeting the Hispanic demographic. Trump just made a false statement about the Mexican community. In doing so, he offended Mexicans and Univision's viewers.

As a for profit company, Univision needs to retain its Hispanic demographic. It is unlikely that Hispanics will want to watch a Trump owned beauty pageant. The purchase of broadcast rights was a discretionary entertainment decision, just as it is a discretionary decision to purchase the broadcast rights to a football match or a soap opera. It would be bad business to continue broadcast of the pageant after Trump insulted Univision's audience.

Univision goes out over (mainly?) terrestrial broadcast stations. As such, it uses public airwaves, not specifically "hispanic airwaves." It can target viewers but the medium through which it broadcasts is not Spanish or Mexican or hispanic. As for the contract, even CNN's Jeffrey Toobin, who had a look at it this morning, says Trump has a solid case. There are no opt out clauses. Trump has them by the short and curlies and they're going to pay. By the time it's over, Trump may own Univision. BTW, you characterize his comments incorrectly. He made no comment about "the mexican community." He referred to illegal aliens coming across the border consisting of drug runners, people smugglers, criminals, and rapists. The very fact that they violate the border, obtain work without a valid visa, and avoid income taxes while often stealing someone's social security number or ID does make them criminals. To the degree they commit other crimes, such as rape, robbery, and assault, I don't know. But if even one of them does it, that means an American citizen was harmed for the benefit of a class of people committing criminal activities.

I did not claim that Univision was using "Hispanic" airwaves. The media company pays a licensing fee for the use of the airwaves, just as FOX, CTW and others do. The issue of frequency access has nothing to do with what is essentially a business decision. Ok, Jeff Toobin, who's background is criminal law had a quick look at a part of the possible contract. Counsel specialized in contractual law and who has access to ALL relevant documents may have a different opinion. I would expect that Univision which is a successful and profitable media company has inhouse legal counsel and outside counsel who would have signed off on the decision to cancel the Miss USA broadcast.

Trump is asking for $500 million. Unfortunately, the pageant audience has been shrinking over the years and the broadcast companies don't make much through advertising revenues on these shows which are a relic of the past and have a shrinking audience. Trunp will have to porove the damages sustained. It will be a hard slog.

You are singling out Univision, but NBC Universal cancelled the US broadcast for both pageants as well. Why focus solely on Univision? Here's the kicker: NBC Universal owns the other 50% of the pageant(s).

You claim Trump made no comment about the Mexican community. That's your interpretation. His broad generalization of Mexican immigrants singled out "Mexicans". It showed a complete ignorance on Trump's part. US nationals are selling the weapons that are used in the Mexican drug wars. It is a very profitable and lucrative business for the USA. No mention of that. Americans are also the primary purchasers of drugs imported from Mexico. No mention of that.

The majority of the illegal Mexican immigrants are quiet, peaceful people. Yes, there are some criminals and some very dangerous people coming across. Unfortunately, a majority of these violent people are not Mexican and come from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama etc. I suppose in Trump's eyes, all Hispanics look the same. The reason those countries have such civil strife is due to decades of US interference and support of corrupt military dictatorships. Remember the Reagan government and the great US "patriot" Oliver North who provided weapons to the drug selling right wing contras? The US is now reaping its investment in death and destruction in central America.

The inconvenient truth that all the belly achers whinging about Mexicans don't want to talk about is that the US economy would collapse without them. How would Trump keep all of his branded properties clean without those Mexican workers? Who would pick the food in the fields, work in the slaughterhouses, wash the dishes, pick up the trash, do all the menial nasty jobs that US nationals refuse to do?

If you want to stop illegal immigration, there is an easy solution: Minimum $100,000 fine, 1 year jail term to anyone who employs an illegal immigrant. Go down to the Home Depot in Tucson or Glendale and start arresting the fat white guys in their pick up trucks who come each day to pick up the illegal Mexican day labourers. Seize the pickup trucks, Charge them with a felony. Know what? It won't happen. It's easier to blame the Mexicans than to go after the US citizens who are exploiting them.

The illegal immigrant problem in the USA was created, funded and maintained by the USA.

I'm not sure what Oliver North and the events of over 30 years ago have to do with this. I actually think you would be on much stronger ground if you looked at NAFTA and what it did to obliterate the lives of small Mexican farmers and communities, driving them off their land and replacing them with large agribusiness farms owned by American multi-nationals. Many of those people had no option but to look for unskilled work and tried to find it then, as now, in the US. Other points you make seem to go a tad off track. Do you really think the US economy would collapse without fruit pickers, maids, and lawn mowers? The first category is increasingly turning to robots and mechanization--in fact central America and Mexico are ahead of the US in this regard, as it is still cheaper in the US to exploit illegals for slave wages (Interestingly, the H2A farm worker visa is available to American businesses, but the oligarchs in the WGA still prefer to go around an entirely legal mechanism to acquire laborers and instead hire illegals). About the guns being sold to Mexican gangs? I thought that was Obama and Holder doing that (remember 2009-10 and "Fast and Furious"?). As to whether US citizens buy imported Mexican drugs, I imagine they do. Why else would Mexican drug gangs be running their business? It doesn't alter the fact that people running drug gangs are felons along with their customers. And I doubt that the large number of Mexican drug gang members can be characterized as "peaceful and quiet." After all, part of the initiation rites, it appears, is the eating of human hearts http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/06/mexico-cartel-cannibalism_n_6423594.html. And, of course, even if everything you stated were true, it would not alter the fundamental issue at hand: every illegal alien has violated American immigration law; many/most violate workplace laws; many/most engage in identity theft that directly impacts American citizens, causing those citizens problems with everything from the IRS to social security and medicare, which incur sudden "contributions" unknown to those citizens and making them in liable for taxes or causing them to lose SS/medicare eligibility. The question is why so many defenders of mexicans committing a wide range of illegal acts have no sympathy at all for American citizens who are often elderly and vulnerable and the targets of such ID theft.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Usernames

[sdanielmcev]

The 1st Amendment claim isn't even colorable. Univision isn't the government.

Exactly. The first amendment prettyy much states what the US government cannot do:

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Original wording:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

Trump is blowing smoke and people are buying it.

Constitutional scholars, you 2 are not. Free speech is protected under the 1st amendment. Unless there is some kind of morality clause in the contract, which is unlikely, Univision cannot use anything Trump says to violate their contract. 1/2 billion is a lot of money.

[Loptr]

Good on you, Trump. The fourth estate is supposed to be reporting the news, not being the news. Univision may find out being 'offended' isn't allowed in their contract.

Actually it is. Univision is a media network that offers multiservice programming specifically targeted at the Spanish language population in the USA.

It's viewers are majority Hispanic. It's advertisers are specifically targeting the Hispanic demographic. Trump just made a false statement about the Mexican community. In doing so, he offended Mexicans and Univision's viewers.

As a for profit company, Univision needs to retain its Hispanic demographic. It is unlikely that Hispanics will want to watch a Trump owned beauty pageant. The purchase of broadcast rights was a discretionary entertainment decision, just as it is a discretionary decision to purchase the broadcast rights to a football match or a soap opera. It would be bad business to continue broadcast of the pageant after Trump insulted Univision's audience.

What is in their contract will state if Univision is allowed to break their contract between Trumps' company and themselves because of a personal quote. Trump, the company is not the same as Trump the person. Contractually. Making a deal with a volatile company owner was Univisions' mistake.

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/06/30/cnns-toobin-on-trump-suit-no-provision-for-univision-to-withdraw-not-a-frivolous-lawsuit/

On Tuesday’s “AC360” on CNN, host Anderson Cooper asked network legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin about the merits of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Univision after the network withdrew its Spanish-language coverage of Trump’s Miss USA pageant on July 12.

In the $500 million lawsuit, Trump claimed Univision is obligated to carry the pageant. Based on a copy of the contract provided to Toobin by Trump, the real estate mogul may have a case against Univision.

“I’ve seen the contract,” Toobin said. “And there is no provision in there as there are in a lot of personal services type contracts. You know, ‘We can get rid of you for moral turpitude or embarrassing behavior.’ There is nothing like that.”

[jerojero]

Who gives a rats a**! He's a buffoon millionaire that would be less than nobody if he had no money. Ignore the loud mouth idiot!

Edited July 2, 2015 by jerojero

[Loptr]

Who gives a rats a**! He's a buffoon millionaire that would be less than nobody if he had no money. Ignore the loud mouth idiot!

That would be billionaire, 9 times over... As with everything in life, money talks and bullshit walks...

[F430murci]

Trump is actually cool, but that does not make one presidential material. Obama is proof positive of that concept;

[NeverSure]

Trump is indeed presidential material. If one drew a graph from 1990 to today rating the presidents by real accomplishments, it would all be downhill with Trump the next logical step.

[Chicog]

Macy's have now dumped his clothing line, although.... "Trump said in a statement that it was his decision to terminate his relationship with Macy's".

[khundon]

The as@@@le got his ass kicked by a few Scott's when he tried to build that golf course in Scottland.

Him and his jumped up son had to walk away with their tails between their legs.

The man is a t&&t an stands no chance of being elected POTUS.

[Neurath]

Good on you, Trump. The fourth estate is supposed to be reporting the news, not being the news. Univision may find out being 'offended' isn't allowed in their contract.

Actually it is. Univision is a media network that offers multiservice programming specifically targeted at the Spanish language population in the USA.

It's viewers are majority Hispanic. It's advertisers are specifically targeting the Hispanic demographic. Trump just made a false statement about the Mexican community. In doing so, he offended Mexicans and Univision's viewers.

As a for profit company, Univision needs to retain its Hispanic demographic. It is unlikely that Hispanics will want to watch a Trump owned beauty pageant. The purchase of broadcast rights was a discretionary entertainment decision, just as it is a discretionary decision to purchase the broadcast rights to a football match or a soap opera. It would be bad business to continue broadcast of the pageant after Trump insulted Univision's audience.

Perhaps Trump's comments can be seen as the verbal equivalent of Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction?

[chuckd]

The as@@@le got his ass kicked by a few Scott's when he tried to build that golf course in Scottland.

Him and his jumped up son had to walk away with their tails between their legs.

The man is a t&&t an stands no chance of being elected POTUS.

Are you talking about one of his Aberdeen courses or Turnberry, the Open Championship course?

PS:

A moderator person is called Scott.

A person from Scotland is called a Scot.

Edited July 2, 2015 by chuckd

[Publicus]

Speaking of golf and the Dump Trump movement.....

Following Donald Trump's widely criticized comments about Mexican immigrants, the PGA remains as just about the last major national brand to stay in business with the GOP presidential candidate.

And it's not backing down.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition says it will call for a boycott of PGA events if the organization doesn't end its business relationship with Trump.

"If they want a boycott for supporting a racist, we will have to accommodate them," says NHMC CEO Alex Nogales. "We cannot allow this to stand.".

http://www.laweekly.com/news/boycott-threatened-as-pro-golf-tour-sticks-with-donald-trump-5754092

[chuckd]

Since there hasn't been a Mexican pro since Lee Trevino, and he was an American and proud of it, native born and perfectly legal. I really don't expect much of an impact on the PGA tour.

Haven't seen a lot of illegal immigrants playing golf or sneaking under or over a fence to watch a golf tournament. They do seem to have some genes for fence scaling, however.

The PGA has already disassociated themselves from Trump's remarks.

Try to dig up something even more irrelevant next time.

[Publicus]

The small minority of rational Republicans know that unless they can get 40% of the Hispanic vote for prez, the Republican party will never again win the presidency.

In 2012 Willard Mitt Romney got 27% of the national Hispanic vote. McCain got 31% and if Romney had won that equivalent, Romney still would have lost the popular vote 54-46%.

Pew Hispanic Center published a remarkable – and completely unreported – research study in 2012. Pew’s conclusion? First generation Hispanics vote 80% for the Democratic Party. Fourth(!) generation Hispanics vote 60% for the Democratic Party.

Republicans are deluding themselves when they attribute Hispanic voting patterns to the issue of immigration — the numbers don’t support that argument. They are also deluding themselves when they claim that the Hispanic population that has voted so overwhelmingly Democratic for decades can be won over in the foreseeable future.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/05/the-hispanic-vote-in-presidential-elections.php

The Donald running for president is God's Gift to the Democratic party up and down the 2016 ticket so keep defending Trump, keep promoting Trump, keep Trump in the race, keep Trump talking because it makes the other candidates talk; and keep Trump around the top of of all the polling surveys. And yes keep sneering about Mexican genes and fences, yes, by all racial means, yes.

I myself have a truckload of popcorn for the Republican televised circus debates. Aka: a circular firing squad. GOP = Gone Old Party. The current generations of right wingers have taken the Republican party off the deep end, thx.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Publicus

[sdanielmcev]

The as@@@le got his ass kicked by a few Scott's when he tried to build that golf course in Scottland.

Him and his jumped up son had to walk away with their tails between their legs.

The man is a t&&t an stands no chance of being elected POTUS.

Trump built the golf course/resort. And, the farmer that was trying to block construction was lapping ng up his 15 minutes of fame.

[Berkshire]

Trump is not doing the Republican party any favors. In fact:

"The problem with those comments is made worse by the fact that people will continue to confuse Trump with a Republican, which he is not, as opposed to thinking of him as an entertainer, which he is."

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/02/politics/donald-trump-republicans-latinos/index.html

After the GOP loses the White House again in 2016, they can look back and see that the Donald was one of the contributing factors.

[Usernames]

Maybe Trump knows what he's talking about--a lot more than his critics.

[beechguy]

Trump is not doing the Republican party any favors. In fact:

"The problem with those comments is made worse by the fact that people will continue to confuse Trump with a Republican, which he is not, as opposed to thinking of him as an entertainer, which he is."

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/02/politics/donald-trump-republicans-latinos/index.html

After the GOP loses the White House again in 2016, they can look back and see that the Donald was one of the contributing factors.

Trump may be closer to the truth, than some want to admit. Yes, he may be a problem for the Republicans, but he may also be a problem for the Democrats.

By all means let's open the gates and let more stay. This guy has only been deported 5 times, and was supposed to be turned back to Federal Agencies, but our tax dollars at work, San Francisco said they weren't obligated. http://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/woman-shot-to-death-at-san-francisco-tourist-attraction/

Probably never work, but I wish someone would sue the crap out of these guys.

Edited July 3, 2015 by beechguy

[MaxYakov]

This is the Donald Trump I know. Nasty, malicious, not an ounce of fair play in his bones, ugly, cheating, aggressive, smelly, obnoxious, lacking in any sense of nobility or grace, and just a poor state of a half man. This is something I would expect a man child, who has been fairly rejected, to do. After the vicious tirade that he launched against many of the super kind, very hard working, incredibly honest and noble Mexican friends of mine, Univision was totally within their rights to cancel their airing of this pigs show. He cannot stand being rejected, as he is so fragile, and his self esteem is so low. After all, he is the one who has to look into the mirror every morning. Can you imaging what a horrid affair that must be? What an absolute runt of a man. The very fact that he is running for president, says a lot about just how low this entire political system has descended.

What!? You missed mentioning his "combover".