A production company's breach-of-contract suit against Martin Scorsese, which alleges he backed out of a planned film despite signing a contract in January 2022 to be an executive producer, should be dismissed, the director's attorneys maintain in new court papers.
Plaintiff Op-Fortitude Ltd.'s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against Scorsese and his production company, Sikelia Productions, alleges he reneged on a $1 million deal to executive produce the World War II movie, titled "Operation: Fortitude."
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The British company alleges that the 80-year-old Scorsese accepted a $500,000 initial payment to put together a cast for the movie, then refused to give the money back after doing noting for more than a year.
"Op-Fortitude spent significant time and resources in partnering with Sikelia and Mr. Scorsese and (their) refusal to perform has put the picture in jeopardy and resulted in the loss of financing, profits and other commercial opportunities," according to the suit filed May 15, which also maintains the plaintiff has suffered substantial delays in production "as a result of Mr. Scorsese's dereliction of his contractual duties."
But in court papers filed Monday with Judge Timothy Patrick Dillon, lawyers for Scorsese and Sikelia cite nearly 20 defenses in arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed on grounds that include unjust enrichment and that Op-Fortitude has not suffered any damages.
"Any alleged failure of defendants to perform any of their obligations under any agreements with plaintiff was excused and discharged by plaintiff's own prior material breaches of its obligations under any such agreements and/or plaintiff's failure to perform all of its obligations...," the Scorsese-Sikelia attorneys state in their court papers.
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