Superman Trial: Court Rejects DC's Attempt to Sanction Siegel Lawyer

"The Court could go on, but to no productive end," wrote Judge Otis Wright II in a decision on Friday, arguably one of the great understatements of the long-standing, ongoing litigation between the family of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and DC Comics. That wasn't to hand either side a definitive victory in the case, but instead a side note: Wright dismissed DC's claims that Siegel lawyer Marc Toberoff suppressed evidence during the case. "The Court comes away from this investigation with the view that DC's Motion for Evidentiary Sanctions is really just a rehashing of the tortured course of discovery in these Superman matters. Now with the benefit of hindsight (and relatively newfound possession of a multitude of documents to which DC may not have been entitled but for the theft of those documents from Toberoff's office and their subsequent disclosure to Warner Brothers), DC seeks to open a widereaching inquiry into attorney and Defendant Marc Toberoff's prior privilege assertions and privilege-logging practices," wrote the judge in short decision issued on the matter and obtained by Deadline. He added, "The Court is skeptical of DC's contention that any perceived deception here caused it any real prejudice, as the letters at issue here actually serve more to discredit DC's cries of intentional interference than they do to bolster them." In spite of a big loss back in January, Toberoff recently said that he's not done fighting for the Siegels yet and is considering an alternate legal route.