Malibu Media Settles Dispute with Former Attorneys

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – According to a joint notice of settlement filed by the parties on May 26, adult studio Malibu Media and its former legal counsel at the Lomnitzer Law Firm have settled their dispute over an alleged breach of contract on the part of Malibu.

In its complaint filed in January, Lomnitzer alleged that Malibu, in violation of a contract between the firm and the studio, began on some unknown date instructing attorneys elsewhere in the country to bypass Lomnitzer, which by contract was supposed to managing Malibu’s mass copyright litigation campaign on a nationwide basis, with respect to the remittance of settlement funds.

In the complaint, Lomnitzer alleged that as of the end of 2019, the firm had “issued invoices to Malibu in the amount of $262,549.92 that are currently open and unpaid.”

In February, Lomnitzer filed for default judgment in the case, stating that “no response has been filed and no application for an extension of time has been filed.” Malibu did respond soon after that filing, however and Lomnitzer’s motion for default judgment was set aside. In May, the proceedings turned toward court-mandated mediation, with the court issuing an order scheduling mediation on May 20.

In their joint notice of settlement, Lomnitzer and Malibu “jointly notify the Court that the parties have reached an agreement in principle to settle this cause,” and contemporaneously sought “a 60 day stay of all pending deadlines to draft a mutually acceptable settlement agreement.”

Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Roy K. Altman issued an order administratively closing the case, in which the court called upon the parties to “file a stipulation of dismissal on or before August 28, 2020.”

While the case is now closed pending the filing of the required stipulation of dismissal, the door for the case to pick up again is technically still open. Altman wrote in his order that “if the parties fail to complete the expected settlement, any party may ask the Court to reopen the case.”

Terms of the settlement agreement between Lomnitzer and Malibu Media have not been disclosed.