Plaintiffs were aspiring Broadway Musical producers, and contracted for the rights to a Barry Manilow production, Harmony. Alas, it was not to be. Producing a play/musical for Broadway takes a lot of money, and it appears from the court decision that this production was "undercapitilized,"
Things went badly, and ended in the producers losing their rights to the script. Legal malpractice litigation ensued, and last week plaintiffs lost the case. In Snorkel Productions, Inc. v. Beckman, Lifeberman & Barandes LLP Justice Lowe determined that the legal malpractice case must fail. It all seemed to turn on the undercapitilization, in which about $ 5-8 million was necessary to produce a Broadway musical, and the producers had great difficulty raising the money. Plaintiffs claimed that the attorneys did not give them the correct date upon which to make a payment. For lack of the payment, the right to produce the musical ended.