‘Spinal Tap’ Co-creators Dismissed

Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner and Michael McKean, three of the four co-creators behind the classic 1984 rock comedy “This is Spinal Tap,” were dismissed from the $400 million lawsuit against Vivendi.

AP Photo – Spinal Tap
Glastonbury Festival, Somerset, England

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee is still allowing co-creator Christopher Guest to proceed with his case, and is leaving room for the other three co-creators to amend their complaints and rejoin their fellow “band mate” on the legal stage.

“Plaintiffs shall file an amended complaint, or inform the Court and Defendants that they do not intend to amend, within 21 days from the date of this Order,” Gee wrote in the ruling.

“Vivendi thought we would be made to go away,” Shearer said in a statement. “Well, not today, not tomorrow, nor the next day. England’s loudest band will be heard.”

Gee also rejected a fraud claim against Vivendi, which claimed the conglomerate “willfully concealed and manipulated years of accountings.” She ruled that the Spinal Tap co-creators “failed to adequately state a fraud claim.”

Shearer’s loan-out company Century of Progress Productions was the first to sue Vivendi, claiming the he and his other co-creators received only $81 in merchandising and $98 in music sales from the classic mocumentary.

McKean’s and Reiner’s loan-out companies later joined the amended suit along with Guest. The co-creators are seeking $400 million.