Mark J. Mintz of Mintz Truppman sued Celebrity Cruises Inc. on behalf of Poet Theatricals Marine, which alleged its costumes and equipment had been returned in poor condition and its images and videos had been used without permission. Courtesy photo.

A team of South Florida lawyers emerged from a rare private bench trial with a $6 million verdict against Celebrity Cruises Inc., accused of breaching its contract with a live entertainment company by returning equipment and costumes in poor condition, and using its photos, videos and concepts for performances after their partnership expired.

Mark J. Mintz and Cheryl Riess of Mintz Truppman in North Miami teamed with Craig Greene of Kramer Green Zuckerman Greene & Buchsbaum in Hollywood to represent Poet Theatricals Marine LLC and three affiliated companies, which Celebrity tasked with handling Las Vegas-style Cirque du Soleil shows on a new group of five ships labeled the Solstice class in 2007.

Celebrity paid Poet about $2.5 million per ship, essentially giving them an empty auditorium to fill with their stage props, equipment, costumes, choreography, music and imagination, according to Mintz.

Every ship hosted three Poet performances each week, and Celebrity renewed the contract for several years until eventually opting to create its own production company. The partnership ended amicably at first, but Mintz said relations soon soured.

Under the arrangement, Celebrity was charged with maintaining all costumes and equipment, and returning them to Poet in show-ready condition. But instead, Mintz claims more than $400,000 worth of gear was lost, destroyed or in poor condition. And though Celebrity allegedly agreed to cover those costs, Poet claimed it allowed late fees of $750 per day to rack up instead.

What's more, Mintz said Celebrity's new performances gave Poet a sense of deja vu.

"We had double trapeze artists, their show had double trapeze artists. We had a performer flying around a chandelier or inside a chandelier, their show has that. We had proposed a show called Wonderland to them, which never got on the ship, but all of a sudden after we left they had a Wonderland show," Mintz said. "So that was a problem."

Poet sued in 2017, when Mintz and his team say they found out that Celebrity was still using images and videos from Poet's shows to promote its ships on websites around the world. And because that multimedia was uploaded to a shared library for Celebrity's partners, travel agents including Costco Travel, Cruises.com and Thomas Cook were also using them for trade shows, banners, brochures and websites.

During discovery, the plaintiffs uncovered an email that made it difficult for the defense to claim ignorance.

"We found out that one of the head people who we dealt with on the show end of the business actually wrote a letter that says, 'Wait a second, we're done with Poet but their images are still up on the website. We're going to get sued,' " Mintz said.

According to Mintz, Celebrity's marketing team responded by saying they'd use the images until the end of the year, or until they find replacements. They were still online during trial.

" We showed the judge 80 websites around the world where our images were being used illegally, and with modern technology we were able to pull the websites up live so the judge could see the pictures and videos," Mintz said. "Then, during the trial they actually took some down, showing that they can when they want to."

Poet trained the performers, Celebrity did the hiring, and agreed to have every performer sign a form acknowledging that Poet owned all images and concepts related to the show. But it didn't, according to Mintz.

"We also found out that at least one third of the performers were using our show images all around the world on their personal websites and Facebook," Mintz said.

Defense attorneys Sanford Bohrer, Scott Ponce and Benjamin Taormina of Holland & Knight in Miami did not respond to requests for comment by deadline. They argued Poet's unjust enrichment claim was barred, and its alleged damages were unenforceable and "grossly disproportionate." They further claimed Poet couldn't have lost profits as alleged, because three of the contracts prohibited sale or licensing of the shows to anyone else for two years after breaking ties with Celebrity.

Poet also accused Celebrity of misappropriating trade secrets, alleging it shouldn't have continued to use a unique training system it developed to transform nonacrobatic performers into skilled aerial acrobats in six to eight weeks—a feat that typically takes several months.

Mintz and his team argued that Florida's trade secret statute protected the confidentiality of Poet's unique training regime, just as it would, say, a chocolate chip cookie recipe. But Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas disagreed, dismissing the claim.

Days before trial, the case took an unconventional turn as Celebrity made an offer to the plaintiff under Florida's private judge statute. If Poet agreed to try the case before former Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Genden—who had mediated the case—the cruise line would waive an appeal.

"He [Genden] would make all rulings that a judge could make in the case, he would make all rulings that a jury could make in the case, and his decision would be final. No appeal," Mintz said.

The agreement meant dismissing the case before Thomas, though he'd reserve jurisdiction to enter a judgment based on Genden's verdict. It also meant the parties could pick their trial date, and removed jurors from the equation.

"Nobody wants to let me in front of a jury," Mintz quipped. "I've been doing this for 39 years."

But it was an interesting prospect for Poet, Mintz said, as the private judge was already familiar with the case, and because any award would be definitive and immediate. So the plaintiff agreed, on one condition: the trade secret claim could return.

"We stipulated that the case in front of Judge Thomas was over and we could take an appeal of the trade secret case," Mintz said.

That appeal is still pending before the Third District Court of Appeal.

Though the private judge statute is nothing new, it's rarely used for an entire case. The resulting trial was a casual affair, hosted in a makeshift trial room at Holland & Knight, where most litigators arrived without jackets or ties and gave closing remarks including legal and factual arguments.

Gendon combined the claims to award $6 million in damages, which Celebrity has since paid.

For Mintz, it wasn't easy litigating against a giant company that hired "a serious set of lawyers," filed extensive motions and seemingly contested everything.

That's where Mintz's expertise in insurance litigation came in handy.

"Luckily I'm used to dealing with insurance companies, who are the biggest delayers and nonpayers in the world," he said.

But issues with photo and video usage remain because Celebrity's vendors and parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. are still using Poet's multimedia, according to Mintz.

"I guess $6 million isn't enough of a lesson, so we're working on another lawsuit."

 

Case: Poet Theatricals Marine et al v. Celebrity Cruises

Case No.: 2017-026920-CA-01

Description: Contract and indebtedness

Filing date: Nov. 20, 2017

Verdict date: Nov. 5, 2019

Judge: Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas

Plaintiffs attorneys: Mark J. Mintz and Cheryl Riess, Mintz Truppman, North Miami; Craig Greene, Kramer Green Zuckerman Greene & Buchsbaum, Hollywood

Defense attorneys: Sanford Bohrer, Scott Ponce and Benjamin Taormina, Holland & Knight, Miami

Verdict amount: $6 million

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