Jury Rules Ackerman Is Dr. Acula, Awards $724,500 in Damages

After four days of deliberations, a Van Nuys jury declared Wednesday that the “Dr. Acula” name rightfully belongs to Forrest J Ackerman and not to his former business associate, Ray Ferry.

In addition to trademark infringement, the jury of six women and six men also found Ferry liable for breach of contract, libel, misrepresentation and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.

Ackerman was awarded a total of $382,500 in compensatory and $342,000 in punitive damages.

“Vindication! Vindication! Dr. Acula lives!” cried a jubilant Ackerman, raising an arm in the air.

The Los Feliz resident, whose movie memorabilia-filled mansion is a science-fiction and horror museum of sorts for Angelenos, hugged his attorney, Jacqueline Connors Appelbaum, and publicly thanked his other “heroine,” attorney Susan Loob, who couldn’t appear Wednesday because of her pregnancy.

“I don’t feel 83 anymore. I only feel 80 years old now,” Ackerman said.

Jurors said they were impressed, but not overwhelmed, by such celebrities as director John Landis and best-selling author Ray Bradbury, who testified for Ackerman during the trial, which lasted about three weeks.

“I wasn’t star-struck,” said juror Teresa Cassidy, a 51-year-old telephone operator from Valley Village. “We had to go by the facts.”

Ackerman, a onetime literary agent who was also editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine before he had a falling-out with Ferry, 48, the present publisher, said he coined the Dr. Acula name in 1939 and was forced to sue after Ferry began using it without permission.

He also alleged that Ferry, with whom he collaborated to stage science-fiction conventions, refused to share profits as agreed and induced him when he was ill to sign an option contract that would allow Ferry to buy millions of dollars worth of his assets for $1.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Petersen rescinded the contract, calling it “the product of undue influence.”

The same jury threw out a countersuit that Ferry, a North Hills resident, filed against Ackerman.

“It was pretty clear to us who Dr. Acula was,” said juror Vince Telles, a 36-year-old accountant from Granada Hills.

In fact, after jurors decided that Ackerman owned the trademark--the first issue they deliberated--they began referring to Ackerman as Dr. Acula, they said.

Last week, Bradbury testified that he had teased Ackerman, his former literary agent who published his first short story in the late 1930s, about his Dr. Acula nickname for more than 60 years.

Ferry and his lawyer, Thomas Brackey II, vowed that they would appeal.

“Mr. Ackerman’s case was based entirely on sympathy,” Ferry said. “On appeals, it’s going to get ugly.”

Jurors said Ackerman seemed like a nice, honest person.

“We did feel that Mr. Ferry treated Mr. Acula very badly and took advantage of an old man,” said Cassidy, the juror.