Miramax and David Bergstein settle lawsuit

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Just two weeks after his lawsuit was filed, film financier David Bergstein and independent studio Miramax have reached a settlement ending their litigation.

Bergstein, who helped put together the agreement for an investor group to purchase Miramax from Walt Disney Co. in 2010, had claimed in the suit that the studio’s new owners including Santa Monica private equity firm Colony Capital owed him more than $6.1 million for his work.

The settlement amount and terms were not disclosed.

In a statement, Bergstein said he was fully retracting all his claims in the lawsuit. ‘I am pleased that I was able to sit down with my counterparties in this suit, discuss our differences and resolve them,’ he said.

Richard Nanula, a principal at Colony and chairman of Miramax, who was named as a defendant in the suit, for the first time publicly credited Bergstein for his work on the deal. ‘We want to recognize the contributions David made that ultimately led to Filmyard’s ownership of Miramax,’ he said in a statement. ‘Without his efforts this very successful transaction wouldn’t have happened.’ The group acquired the movie company — originally founded by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein and later sold to Disney — for $660 million.

Bergstein has been involved in a number of lawsuits related to his troubled tenure in the film industry. Just last week he filed a suit against two law firms which previously represented him in separate litigation.

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— Ben Fritz