The Probate Lawyer Blog

When Luke Perry, whose full name was Coy Luther Perry III, died on March 4, 2019, he was surrounded by family and loved ones.  Tragically, the actor — who rose to fame playing a teenage heart-throb on Beverly Hills 90210 — died from a condition that almost everyone thinks of as one that only strikes “old” people.  Fortunately, Perry’s foresight to do the proper estate planning meant that the tragedy was not made worse for his family. 

Luke Perry Suffers Stroke

At the young age of 52, Perry suffered a serious stroke and was hospitalized under heavy sedation.  Five days later, his family made the decision to remove life support, after it was apparent that he would not recover, following a reported second stroke.  He was surrounded by his children, 21-year-old Jack and 18-year-old Sophie, along with his fiancé, ex-wife, mother, and siblings, among others.

While Johnny Depp is no stranger to the courtroom – having been involved in several different lawsuits in recent years – none have been as impactful or bitter as his ongoing feud with ex-wife Amber Heard.  Did Johnny Depp abuse Amber Heard, both physically and psychologically?  Or were the allegations faked by Heard, as Depp and his legal team still contend?

And can Depp recover from the blows to his career and his fortune from this and other lawsuits?

This is the first installment in our Fortune Fights series, based on the celebrity documentary television show, Fortune Fights, for which we serve as hosts, legal commentators and executive producers.  New episodes air on the REELZ network Thursday nights at 9 pm eastern, starting January 31st, with the premiere episode Johnny Depp: Fortune Fight.

The iconic figure whose name is almost synonymous with Marvel Entertainment — perhaps the biggest name today in cinema — needs help. Stan Lee is the subject of three separate lawsuits that allege he is the victim of fraud and elder abuse. And these court filings may simply be the beginning of a much larger battle over his estate and the right to profit from Stan Lee’s name, image, likeness and more.

Throughout the lawsuits and surrounding controversy, there is one point that is certain. Stan Lee, now age 95, is susceptible to undue influence. His memory is poor – so bad that a detective’s report noted how he would often forget the name of his closest adviser.  He has macular degeneration, leaving him with vision so faulty that he cannot read or drive. On top of that, Lee’s vision is impaired.  Clearly, he cannot manage his affairs without help from others. In fact, he recently used social media to ask for help because his Facebook and Instagram accounts had been hacked.

Reality presents a much different image of Stan Lee than the comedic appearances he continues to make in Marvel blockbusters, including Infinity War, Black Panther and the latest movie, Ant Man & The Wasp.

Would comedian Richard Pryor be laughing or rolling over in his grave?  When Quincy Jones sat down for a recent interview with Vulture, he casually inferred that Marlon Brando slept with both Marvin Gaye and Richard Pryor.   

The comment quickly snowballed when Pryor's widow, Jennifer Lee-Pryor, took to social media to confirm the Richard Pryor tryst with Marlon Brando:

Hey girl: It was the 70's: enough cocaine and good music-one could f*** a radiator and send it flowers in the morning! # noshame https://t.co/Aea0lLDAhG

— Jennifer Lee Pryor (@JenniferLPryor) February 7, 2018

She commented that Pryor would have no shame about Quincy's comments and was open in his early comedy routines about his homosexual encounters.  Jennifer felt that Pryor would have enjoyed Quincy Jones' revelation.

It's a growing Hollywood trend ... tens of millions of dollars gone?  Sue the guy who handled your finances!  But, legally, who should shoulder the blame -- and more critically, pay the price -- when a celebrity once worth hundreds of millions sees most of it disappear?  And what lessons are there for those of us whose net worth hasn't quite hit eight or nine figures? 

Johnny Depp is the poster child for this dilemma after his reported net-worth of $200 million dwindled to a small fraction of what it once was.  But Depp is far from alone.  This summer, Alyssa Milano filed a $10 million lawsuit against her former business manager claiming financial ruin.  And Lisa Marie Presley recently announced, through her attorney, that she is in the same boat, preparing to sue her former business manager for $100 million in losses.

The Depp lawsuit appears to be the most heated at the moment.  Recently, Depp's former financial managers and advisors added a new lawyer to an already-ugly legal battle by filing to foreclose against two of Depp's houses, including his primary residence.  The lawsuit alleges that when Depp was in deep financial trouble, his financial management company, TMG, came to his rescue with a five million dollar loan.  TMG says it loaned the money on a short-term basis, to pay off another bank loan that was about to come due in late 2012.  Depp agreed to sell off some his assets, including his beloved yacht (which he purchased for $10 million and spent another $8 million renovating) and repay TMG shortly thereafter, according to the lawsuit.

The moment the lawsuit started, it was ugly.  Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb have moved well past ugly into uncharted territory in their courtroom battle that addresses views about life itself.  

As we wrote after the case began, Vergara and Loeb's disagreement teaches an important lessons for anyone considering IVF or other mean of assisted reproductive technology.  But there's a greater lesson now.  When the courtroom is the backdrop for a relationship of love turned to hate, things can rapidly spiral out of control.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard provided a good example recently.  But even they -- despite dramatic accusations of spousal abuse, infidelity, blackmail, and more -- found a way to put their differences aside, reach a settlement, and end the fighting.  Vergara and Loeb don't appear to be heading down the same path.

Neither is willing to blink about what should happen to the two frozen embryos that they had created while together as a couple.  At the time, Vergara and Loeb tried to use In Vitro Fertilization to conceive a child.  They split after one failed attempt, before trying for a second time.  Two female embryos were left frozen.

At the start of the IVF process, Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb both signed a form directive from the medical facility.  This form included an agreement with different options for what would happen to the embryos if not implanted.  They filled out the form and both signed it, indicating that if either of them died, the embryos would be thawed, which would destroy them.  The embryos would only be implanted or otherwise used if both Vergara and Loeb agreed to it.  If not, the embryos would remain frozen indefinitely.