A
federal appeals court on Monday upheld a $319 million verdict over
profits from the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and rejected
Walt Disney Co.'s request for a new trial.
A jury decided in 2010 that
Disney hid the show's profits from its creators, London-based Celador
International. The ruling Monday by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals found no issues with the verdict or with a
judge's rulings in the case.
"I am pleased that justice has been done," Celador Chairman Paul Smith said in a statement.
Disney did not immediately comment on the decision.
The ruling comes more than
two years after the jury ruled in Celador's favor after a lengthy trial
that featured testimony from several top Disney executives. The company
sued in 2004, claiming Disney was using creative accounting to hide
profits from the show, which first ran in the United States from August
1999 to May 2002 and was a huge hit for ABC.
The jury found that Celador was owed $269.2 million, and a judge later added $50 million in interest to the judgment.
The appeals court
determined the verdict was not "grossly excessive or monstrous" and that
it was not based on speculation or guesswork.
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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(AP Photo/Disney-ABC Domestic Television). FILE - In this 2008 photo provided by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, Lyndsay Baldwin from Cos Cob, CT feels the pressure as the clock winds down to just one second on her "Millionaire" question in New York.
