Prospect Park Asks For More Money In Amended Lawsuit Against ABC; Claims ABC Schemed To Create 'Mega Soap' and 'Copy-Cat' Characters

Last week, Prospect Park informed the cast and crew of ALL MY CHILDREN the show was not going to return in its current form. ONE LIFE TO LIVE had already been shelved, reportedly until the company's lawsuit against ABC was resolved. Prospect Park sued ABC in April claiming that the network sabotaged the relaunch of ONE LIFE TO LIVE by, among other things, killing off key characters.

On Wednesday, Prospect Park filed a new amended complaint with more details of ABC's alleged fraud and a demand for more than $95 million in damages. According to the latest court papers, ABC schemed in a quest for a "mega soap."

Unbeknownst to Prospect Park, at the same time the ink was drying on the Licensing Agreement granting Prospect Park an exclusive license for ‘OLTL’ through January 31, 2013, ABC insiders were developing a plan to create a mega-soap through the amalgamation of ‘OLTL’ and ‘GH,’ intentionally disregarding Prospect Park’s rights.

According to Prospect Park’s filing, the production company agreed to pay ABC $4.5 million per season for the rights to the first three seasons of ALL MY CHILDREN and $4 million per season for ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

ABC breached these express provisions of the License Agreement and the Amendments in a myriad of ways, including, but not limited to:
a. significantly altering the storylines of and/or killing the Borrowed OLTL Characters without consulting and/or obtaining Prospect Park’s prior approval;
b. significantly altering the storylines of other OLTL characters not mentioned in the First Amendment without Prospect Park’s knowledge or permission;
c. signing the OLTL actors playing Starr Manning, Todd Manning, Blair Manning, and John McBain to exclusive, secret, multi-year contracts with GH even though it knew Prospect Park would need those actors for OLTL;
d. refusing to turn over the URLs for OLTL and AMC to Prospect Park even though such URLs were part of the format rights granted to Prospect Park;
e. creating GH copy-cats of the OLTL characters Todd Manning and Starr Manning to be played by the same OLTL actors;
f. featuring the copy-cat character of Todd Manning in GH episodes at the same time Prospect Park was airing episodes featuring Todd Manning; and
g. even after suit was filed, continuing to create and use “copy-cat” characters on GH.

The new versions of ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE launched in April on Hulu and iTunes.

According to Prospect Park’s complaint, executives at ABC "instruct[ed] Hulu management not to offer Prospect Park the beneficial terms and arrangements that Hulu was prepared to provide and had provided to other less-popular shows."

The company said it has lost $30 million in out-of-pocket expenses in producing the first seasons and/or at least $95 million in lost profits.

1. Compensatory damages including lost profits in an amount to be determined at trial, but not less than $95,000,000;
2. Punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial;
3. All costs of suit incurred herein;
4. Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest as may be provided by law;
5. A declaration that Prospect Park’s continued payment of the licensing fees under the Agreement is excused; that Prospect Park is entitled to an extension of the License Agreement; and that the term of the License Agreement is tolled, from the time of ABC’s breach until the breach is fully remedied; and
6. All such other and further relief as the Court may deem to be just and proper.