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Frank Dux v.
Jean Claude Van Damme
Defense questions existence of written contract outline
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 (Court TV) -- Jean-Claude Van Damme's defense attorney continued to undermine Frank Dux's case, presenting a former neighbor of the plaintiff who suggested that Dux's only concrete evidence of his alleged oral contract could not have been destroyed during a 1994 earthquake.
Dux says that Van Damme failed to live up to an oral agreement to pay him 2.5 percent of the gross revenue (gross points) from "The Kumite." Dux also signed a separate deal to write the script for "The Kumite," but the movie was never made because its production company went bankrupt. When Van Damme subsequently starred in a similar movie, "The Quest," Dux did not receive the screenwriting credits and filed suit.
Dux testified that Van Damme wrote outline and made an audiotape of their alleged agreement. But, Dux said, both items were lost when an earthquake leveled his home.
However, Kim Owens, Dux's former neighbor and the manager of the apartment complex where he lived, testified that the earthquake did not cause serious structural damage to the building. Owens used photos to show that the building's balconies had not crumbled as Dux had claimed. This testimony damaged Dux's credibility and suggested that his agreement with Van Damme, specifically his written proof of a contract, may not have existed.
But during cross-examination, Owens admitted that she had never visited Dux's apartment to assess the damage.
Before Owens testified, plaintiff attorney Steven Kramer confronted Van Damme with the similarities between "The Quest" and "The Kumite." Although the heroes in both movies are named Dubois, Van Damme insisted the stories were very different.
Van Damme admitted that he called Dux his partner but said he refers to many people on a movie project as "partner." The star of "Bloodsport" also insisted that he tried to get a good deal for Dux through his agent Jack Gilardi.
After the Writers Guild of America ruled that "The Kumite" writers should get a story credit for "The Quest," the credits were supposed to read: "Story by Jean-Claude Van Damme and Frank Dux & Jean-Claude Van Damme." But, Van Damme said, he instructed the producers of "The Quest" to take his name off the top billing, "so it would look more equal." Van Damme then repeated that he never wanted to deny Dux his proper credit.
In addition, Van Damme denied owning the loan-out company, Octopus, which he said owned part of "The Quest."
Gilardi and Steven Kotlowitz, who helped broker Dux's screenwriting deal for "The Kumite" with Epic Productions said that he never mentioned his oral agreement with Van Damme. Kotlowitz said that Dux's writing partner, Ed Khmara, got more money than Dux because he had previous experience. According to Kotlowitz, no writer who was not also a director received the kind of deal Dux allegedly had with Van Damme.
Reported by Court TV's Bryan Lavietes
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