Michael Fitzgerald: Last News

A judge denied Garth Brooks’ request to dismiss a sexual assault lawsuit filed by a former makeup artist, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.US District Judge Michael Fitzgerald denied Brooks’ motion to dismiss the complaint filed in the central district of California due to an “original action” still pending in another state. A court date originally scheduled for Monday, Dec.

Benedict Fitzgerald, best known as the screenwriter of The Passion of the Christ, died at home in Marsala, Sicily after a long illness on January 17, 2024. He was 74 and no cause of death was given by his family.

Caroline Brew editor Benedict Fitzgerald, co-screenwriter of “The Passion of the Christ,” died Jan. 17 in Marsala, Sicily, after a long illness, his cousin Nancy Ritter told Variety. He was 74.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to “Once Within a Time” from Godfrey Reggio, the experimental filmmaker behind the cult masterpiece “Koyaanisqatsi.” The indie studio will release “Once Within a Time” theatrically in the fall of 2023, following its premiere as part of The Museum of Modern Art’s film series “Total Cinema of Sight and Sound: Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass,” which runs Sept. 26 – Oct. 4.  The movie is co-directed by Jon Kane, with original music is composed by Philip Glass with additional music and vocals by Sussan Deyhim. Glass, a legendary experimental composer, first worked with Reggio on “Koyaanisqatsi,” which was “presented” by Francis Ford Coppola in 1982. Reggio and Glass have collaborated on seven films over the last four decades, including “Visitors,” “Evidence,” and “Anima Mundi.”

UPDATE: Taylor Swift has shaken off a copyright lawsuit that alleged she had plagiarized the lead song to her 1989 album. The two songwriters, Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, dropped the suit and said they would dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning that they will not be able to refile, according to Reuters.

Taylor Swift yesterday submitted a statement to a US court as part of the long-running song-theft legal battle over her 2014 hit ‘Shake It Off’, which songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler reckon rips off their 2001 song ‘Playas Gon Play’. Swift’s statement explains how she came up with the lyrics for her track, while also insisting there was no way she could have been exposed to ‘Playas Gon Play’ before creating ‘Shake It Off’.Hall and Butler first sued Swift in 2017.

Taylor Swift was successful in court last week in her ongoing legal battling over the 2014 hit ‘Shake It Off’. Though this was in relation to the lawsuit pursued by musician Jesse Graham, not the separate and more newsworthy case instigated by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler.In the latest development in the former dispute, the US Ninth Circuit appeals court upheld a lower court ruling from 2020 in which a judge dismissed Graham’s most recent litigation.Graham sued Swift in 2015 accusing her of ripping off his 2013 song ‘Haters Gonna Hate’ on ‘Shake It Off’.

The back and forth continues in the ‘Shake It Off’ song-theft legal battle, with the songwriters who accuse Taylor Swift of ripping off their work insisting their litigation should now head to a jury trial.Legal reps for Sean Hall and Nathan Butler filed new papers with the court on Friday urging the judge to knock back Swift’s most recent and seemingly final attempt to get the case kicked out of court via summary judgement.Hall and Butler accuse Swift of ripping off their 2001 song ‘Playas Gon Play’ on her 2014 hit. The former had the lyric “the playas gon play/them haters gonna hate”, while ‘Shake It Off’ famously includes the line “the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate”.The duo first went legal in 2017, but the following year judge Michael Fitzgerald dismissed their lawsuit on the basis that the handful of lyrics the two songs have in common are not protected by copyright in isolation.However, Hall and Butler successfully over-turned that ruling in the Ninth Circuit appeals court, where judges said that Fitzgerald had been too hasty to conclude that the lines about players playing and haters hating were not protected by copyright.As a result, the whole matter was sent back to the lower court.

A US judge has again declined to dismiss the long-running ‘Shake It Off’ song theft lawsuit, meaning that the songwriters who allege that Taylor Swift’s 2014 hit rips off a song they wrote in 2001 should now be able to have their case presented to a jury.This particular song-theft dispute has already been on quite the journey. Sean Hall and Nathan Butler first went legal in 2017, claiming that ‘Shake It Off’ rips off their 2001 song ‘Playas Gon Play’.

The long-running legal battle over the players playing and the haters hating in Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ could still end up before a jury, with the judge overseeing the case seemingly not yet persuaded to dismiss the case on a matter of law. Of course he did dismiss it once before, but with the Ninth Circuit appeals court having overturned that decision, Michael Fitzgerald is now much more cautious, despite the Swift side presenting new arguments.Sean Hall and Nathan Butler reckon that Swift’s 2014 hit rips off a song they wrote in 2001 called ‘Playas Gon Play’.

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