WB, Logan cut loose from 'Samurai' suit

A federal judge has nixed Warner Bros. and scribe John Logan from the suit that stated the script for 2005 pic 'The Last Samurai' was stolen from two authors.A federal court judge has ignored Warner Bros. and film writer John Logan from the suit declaring the script for "The Final Samurai" was lifted in the work of two scribes, Aaron Benay and Matthew Benay.But U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez also ruled Tuesday the Benays' breach of implied-in-fact contract claim against producers Bedford Falls, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz could proceed,The lawsuit -- that has pulled on for a long time -- is possibly noticably for that sudden appearance this past year of the anonymous letter with three attached e-mails, a document which was delivered to both sides' legal teams and which bolstered the Benays' claims from the extent that producers examined their script. Warner Bros. searched for to prove the new stash of documents would be a hoax, employing a specialist who came to the conclusion that handwriting located on the script pages and Zwick's signature on the fax cover sheet were robotically replicated from documents created throughout discovery. Amongst other things, the expert also discovered that three emails were erroneously placed "Off-shore Standard Time" rather than "Off-shore Daylight Time."Gutierrez declined an attempt to sanction the Benays. ruling that Warner Bros. along with other accused "make an inadequate showing of culpability for Litigants or their counsel to warrant sanctions."He didn't elaborate on one of the most bizarre twists from the situation: The Warner Bros. legal team, brought by Serta Petrocelli, required DNA examples of the Benays for just about any trace that will connect these to the mysterious documents. Their attorney, John Marder, objected that his DNA also was collected without his understanding once the Benays gave their samples. "They were products allegedly provided by the accused as snacks throughout a depositing, while holding the key intent of collecting my DNA unlawfully," Marder authored inside a declaration towards the court recently.Gutierrez granted Warner Bros. and Logan's motion for summary judgment while he came to the conclusion the Benays had unsuccessful to exhibit "privity," or the studio and film writer weren't area of the implied-in-fact contract.The government court initially ignored the situation in 2008, however the Benays become a huge hit towards the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which declined their copyright violation claim but stated their breach of implied-in-fact contract suit could proceed. Contact Ted Manley at ted.manley@variety.com