Legal News

Trustees of Hulk, Spidey & Co. Settle With Perelman for $80 Mil

By Dan Slater

When it comes to litigation, Ron Perelman, the billionaire financier and Revlon chairman, doesn’t exactly have a flawless track record. Last year, the ginormous ($1.57 billion) jury award that he won against Morgan Stanley over the 1998 sale of Coleman to Sunbeam, was reversed. Now, after a decade-long litigation with the trustees of comic-publisher Marvel, Perelman has agreed to cough up $80 million to settle.

Here’s the WSJ story.

Here’s the long and winding road that led to the settlement: In 1997, months after Marvel filed for bankruptcy, Marvel noteholders sued Perelman, who owned a majority stake in the company, along with his holding company and others, claiming that they breached their fiduciary duty by issuing Marvel notes and diverting the proceeds. In 1998, about the time Marvel was emerging from bankruptcy, a litigation trust was established to pursue the claims. The litigation bounced up and down the court system for years. Earlier this year, the parties entered mediation, at which time they agreed on the $80 million figure, which Perelman’s holding company, now known as MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, will pay on behalf of all the defendants.

Neither Edward Friedman, a lawyer for the trustees, nor Anthony Clark, a lawyer for the defendants, returned the WSJ’s calls seeking comment.

A spokeswoman for Perelman and MacAndrews & Forbes declined to comment.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 08, 2008 (boomark / email).