Stern Files Appeal In SiriusXM Case Ruling

RADIO ONLINE | Friday, April 27, 2012

Following through with several rants on his radio show, Howard Stern, via his production company, One Twelve, Inc., along with his long-time agent Don Buchwald, have officially filed an appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the First Judicial Department regarding State Supreme Court Judge Barbara R. Kapnick's recent decision to dismiss with prejudice the lawsuit he had filed against Sirius XM Radio over a year ago.

Stern and his agent Don Buchwald are claiming that they are owed $330 million in performance based compensation due to a previously agreed upon internal subscriber benchmark being surpassed -- a benchmark that was made as a result of the merger between Sirius and XM, which brought an additional 9 million XM subscribers into the combined company.

In her April 16th summary judgment ruling, dismissing the Stern lawsuit with prejudice, Judge Barbara R. Kapnick stated: "Here, while it may be true that Stern and Buchwald hoped and expected to reap the benefits from any significant growth that Sirius experienced after they entered into the Agreement, that subjective expectation cannot suffice to override the clear, unambiguous language of the agreement. At the time the parties entered into the Agreement, it is clear that the only subscribers that the parties considered part of the "total number of Sirius subscribers" for purposes of calculating 'Performance Based Stock Compensation' were those individuals who subscribed to the Sirius radio system. Although plaintiffs argue that those subscribers acquired by merger with XM became 'Sirius subscribers' for those purposes, such an interpretation cannot be supported by reading of the Agreement as a whole."