Judge Dismisses Coppola ‘Contact’ Suit

Director Francis Ford Coppola’s lawsuit against Warner Bros. and the estate of the late astronomer and author Carl Sagan had claimed that the film “Contact” stemmed from a project he and Sagan developed in 1975. But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ricardo Torres, responding to a request by Warner and Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, to throw out the suit, said Sagan and Coppola did not have a contract and that Coppola waited too long to file his claim. Coppola filed the lawsuit in 1996, less than a week after Sagan died of a bone marrow disease. In seeking $750,000 in damages, Coppola had claimed he and Sagan discussed a TV program about contacts with extraterrestrials. In 1985 Sagan published his best-selling novel “Contact,” later made into the film starring Jodie Foster. In a statement, the studio and Druyan said they were “extremely gratified that the courts threw out all of Coppola’s claims. This is a lawsuit that never should have been brought and which was an appalling affront to the memory of one of the world’s most renowned and best-loved scientists.” Coppola’s lawyer, Robert Chapman, said the director is disappointed, but plans to appeal.