DISNEY SAYS NO TO EX-CHIEF.Byline: John Horn Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The legal feud feud, formalized private warfare, especially between family groups. The blood feud (see vendetta) is characteristic of those societies in which central government either has not arisen or has decayed. between the Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Co. and Jeffrey Katzenberg grew more bitter Friday, when the studio claimed the former studio chief was not entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: to a $250 million bonus. Katzenberg, one of the founders of the fledgling DreamWorks studios, sued Disney last month for breach of contract. The executive said Disney owed him an ``incentive bonus'' worth 2 percent of the studio's profits from movies or TV shows produced or acquired for distribution during his tenure. In an answer to the lawsuit lawsuit: see procedure; tort. filed in Superior Court, Disney's attorneys said Katzenberg knew he would not get the bonus when he renegotiated his contract in 1988. Under that deal, Disney said, the bonus would be canceled if Katzenberg left the company before the deal expired ex·pire v. ex·pired, ex·pir·ing, ex·pires v.intr. 1. To come to an end; terminate: My membership in the club has expired. 2. in 1996. Katzenberg left Disney in 1994. Disney's legal filing says that when Katzenberg told Disney in 1993 he would leave the next year, he was ``expressly reminded'' that a bonus based on the performance of future films and TV shows would be revoked. After he left the company, Disney released ``Pocahontas'' and earned substantial income from movies such as ``The Lion King,'' made under Katzenberg's tenure. When Katzenberg left the next year, Disney said, he sacrificed ``any bonus based on the future performance of Disney motion pictures and television programs produced during his employment.'' He gave up that money, Disney said, ``in favor of upon the side of; favorable to; for the advantage of. See also: favor what Katzenberg contemplated would be even more profitable and prestigious entrepreneurial opportunities'' - i.e., DreamWorks. Disney said that when Katzenberg left Disney he was paid the full amount of any bonuses he was owed and that the company even accelerated the payment of deferred bonuses. ``Katzenberg is simply not entitled to the enormous sums of money he now demands,'' the filing says. It asked that his lawsuit be dismissed and that Disney's legal costs be paid by Katzenberg. Bert Fields, the attorney representing Katzenberg in the lawsuit, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. |
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