The nemesis of the Diana fund

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The Times
From Chris Ayres in Los Angeles



SHE was recently cited as one of America’s top five most powerful businesswomen. Now Lynda Resnick, who runs a billion-dollar business empire with her husband, is making final preparations for a lawsuit against the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which could render the charity bankrupt.

Jury selection begins tomorrow in the malicious prosecution action against the fund brought by Mrs Resnick and her husband, Stewart. The Resnicks are claiming $25 million (£13.5 million) in damages.

The case stems from the fund’s decision in 1998 to sue the Franklin Mint — the Resnick-owned producer of collectibles — for cashing in on the Princess’s death by selling a Diana “Limited Edition Commemorative Plate”. The lawsuit filed in California accused the couple of acting like “vultures feeding on the dead . . . profiting from the death of Diana”.

The Diana fund sued the Resnicks in California, because of its laws on “publicity rights” — the rights of a celebrity’s heirs to inherit the commercial value of their fame. The suit was struck down. The judge, Richard Paez, said that because the Princess lived in England, where there were no publicity rights, Californian law could not be invoked to claim those rights in the US. He added that the “vultures” claim “had no bearing on the legal issues presented”. The fund lost an estimated $7.4 million. As it prepared to fight the Franklin Mint case, the fund suspended grant payments to 127 humanitarian projects worldwide.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-1350869,00.html