Vivendi Suit Vs. Diller Scheduled for Trial

Vivendi Universal’s suit to force media mogul Barry Diller to get out of the way of a deal with NBC is scheduled to go to trial this week in a Delaware court.

Vice Chancellor Stephen Lamb, the judge overseeing the case, granted Vivendi’s request to expedite the matter, which it says must be resolved before Vivendi’s U.S. unit, which includes the Universal movie and TV studios, can be bought by NBC.

If the trial is to take two days, it will be held Thursday and Friday. If the matter is to be tried in a single day, it will be Friday.

Joseph Allerhand, attorney for French company Vivendi, told Lamb the Federal Trade Commission has said antitrust approvals were expected to clear the way to close the deal early this month.

A unit of Diller’s InterActiveCorp owns preferred stock in Vivendi’s U.S. unit, conferring veto rights. InterActiveCorp, the parent of Expedia and Ticketmaster among other Internet vending sites, is slated to report first-quarter results today.

Vivendi wants the Delaware Chancery Court to force Diller to accept offered letters of credit to cut off those veto rights, a condition of the deal closing.

Ken Nachbar, an attorney for Diller, said his preferred stock doesn’t stand in the way of the merger. NBC and Vivendi chose to make ending his veto rights a condition of the deal, he said.