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Former CEO still wants paid

By Derek Potter
Published: March 27, 2009 at 7:14 AM
Here is a strange twist to the Hard Rock Saga. The former owners, who recently sold the park in bankruptcy court, are suing the new owners to get a cut of the profits from the park. They have filed suit and are seeking an annual "licensing fee" of $500,000 and 1.5 percent of gross revenues over 50 million. They are claiming intellectual property rights, which were allegedly transferred to another company owned by Goodwin and were not included in the sale.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Steven Goodwin, the former CEO, was awfully quiet during Hard Rock's lackluster first year, and from all accounts, virtually silent during the bankruptcy hearings. Intellectual property rights are usually included in a bankruptcy sale, and the court records indicate that Hard Rock was sold "free and clear of all encumbrances." Needless to say that Mr. Goodwin is not a popular figure at the beach right now.

Here is the link.

Readers' Opinions

From Joshua Counsil on March 27, 2009 at 12:28 PM
It's times like this that I wish lawsuits were non-existent. That's all I can say without being banned from this site.
From Robert Niles on March 27, 2009 at 2:10 PM
No, what you need is California's malicious prosecution law. That allows defendants in bogus suits to eat the breakfast, lunch and dinner of those who sued them. *That* helps stop the truly bogus suits.
From Robert Niles on March 27, 2009 at 2:12 PM
Not that I know if this suit is bogus or not, of course. That said, it takes some chutzpah to sue for money someone who bought your business after you drove it into bankruptcy court.
From Derek Potter on March 27, 2009 at 8:09 PM
The funny thing is that the very heart of Goodwin's case is the fact that he set up the new corporation and supposedly tranferred said property rights to that corporation without the boards approval. For those of you not laughing yet...depending on when he formed the corporation and when he allegedly transferred assets...it's a really good possibility that what he did was illegal, and he's trying to make a court case for himself based on that illegal act. Never mind that this guy was directly responsible for a 375 million dollar loss in one year of operation, now he has his hand out to the new owners and wants money from the very project he drove into the ground. It does take some real cojones to do what he has done, although I'm not sure it was the smartest move in history to do it.
From James Rao on March 27, 2009 at 8:23 PM
And this is after the guy already tried to get the bankruptcy court’s permission to give $1 million in severance pay to nine members of the management team - himself included!

Pathetic. All these failed managers thinking they are owed compensation. Whatever happened to actually earning your money?

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