Russell Peters Singapore Drama Continues

A district court has rejected Singapore’s Midas Promotions’ claim that a rival company, LAMC Productions, violated an agreement to share revenues for a Russell Peters concert.   

The Straits Times reports that Midas’s suit asserts that the two companies had agreed to a joint venture to put on a Singapore show by the comedian in 2012 an.

That show sold out and a second was added. Both LAMC and Midas have been responsible for some of the biggest concerts in Southeast Asia, and Midas wanted to negotiate a “flat fee” with Peters on behalf of it and LAMC. Later, Midas charged that LAMC had concluded a separate deal with Peters’ agent, Marlene Tsuchii, to pay Peters a percentage of the revenue, and Midas was excluded from the deal to promote the event, thus resulting in a loss of income.

LAMC denied it had an agreement with Midas, saying the deal, which would have given Peters 80 percent of the proceeds, made no sense since the attendant profit margin on a 50-50 share would have not been worth LAMC’s while.

However, in a flat deal arrangement where Peters would receive $200,000, each side would have made substantially more. The judge in the case found that the agreement between the two parties, regardless of how it was negotiated by either side, applied only to the flat-deal offer.

“There was no agreement to share any profit if either party were to secure a deal on a percentage basis,” he said. So when Midas was told that Peters’ agent had rejected the flat deal offer, LAMC “discharged its obligation to Midas.”

LAMC and Tsuchii settled separately on an 80:20 split. Tsuchii had never shown any interest in Midas’ terms. Midas said it would appeal.