‘Will & Grace’: In court, it’s a drama

After a nearly three-month trial and a bizarre week capped by the disqualification of the jury foreman, NBC Universal on Friday settled a lawsuit with the creators of NBC’s former hit sitcom “Will & Grace.”

Strangely, the settlement came after the Los Angeles jury had reached a $49-million verdict against NBC, which is owned by General Electric Co.

Neither side knew the amount of the jury award at the time because the judge had sealed that information as he weighed whether to disqualify the foreman for failing to disclose that he had taken a shot at the “corporate media,” including New York-based NBC, on his website nearly two years ago.

“There have been a few twists and turns,” said Henry Shields, a lawyer representing NBC. “This has been an unusual one.”

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Warren L. Ettinger disqualified Dean Hartwell on Thursday, the day after the jury reached the verdict. That prompted the plaintiffs and defendants, both of whom worried that there might be a mistrial, to work out a settlement to end the trial, which began in mid-January.

“We didn’t know what the number was, but we had real concerns about whether this jury would last,” said attorney Ronald Nessim, who represented the creators of “Will & Grace,” David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, and their agent, Scott Schwartz.

Neither side would divulge the amount of the settlement.

The case began in December 2003, when Kohan and Mutchnick sued NBC Studios. They alleged that the studio, which produced the series, cheated them out of at least $65 million in profit by negotiating unfavorable terms for the broadcast rights, which the studio sold to its sister division, the NBC network.

NBC was, in effect, the buyer and the seller of the show, and the jury decided that NBC took advantage of that situation.

“We determined that there was fraud,” said juror Robert Centrone of South Pasadena. “It was some fancy Hollywood reporting versus the new kids on the block.”

Added juror Rick Gonzales of Montebello, “How do you make a determination of the fair market value when you are bidding against your boss? Let’s be realistic, NBC and NBC Studios, they were a monopoly.”

NBC avoided its judgment day because on Wednesday, the night before the verdict was to be read in court, its lawyers were on a conference call. Someone asked who the jury foreman was, and someone answered that it was Hartwell, 38, an administrative associate at Glendale’s building and safety department.

One of the attorneys entered his name into Google and up popped a link to his website, called Dean Hartwell’s Perspective on Current Events. On the site, the NBC legal team discovered a May 2005 essay titled “Corporate Media Favors Incumbents,” which includes a paragraph complaining that NBC, among other media outfits, misses real political stories and covers “the phony ones.”

“Total serendipity,” said Shields, the NBC lawyer.

The team worked through Wednesday night drafting a motion requesting Hartwell’s ouster.

Hartwell, in an interview Friday, said he didn’t remember the essay when he filled out the juror questionnaire in January. He said the essay was one of more than 200 that he had written for his website, which generally focuses on the Iraq war and the Bush administration.

“I saw myself as a fair and impartial juror,” Hartwell said. “I didn’t have anything against NBC, NBC Studios or the plaintiffs.”

He added that during the trial and deliberations, “I didn’t say any negative things about NBC or any other corporation.”

Hartwell’s fellow jurors agreed that the foreman didn’t show any bias.

“He was the last one that we would have guessed would have an ulterior motive,” said Centrone, 34, a product designer. “He was even-keel and a real straight shooter.”

Gonzales, 50, a Union Pacific Railroad supervisor, called Hartwell “extremely neutral.”

“This was a real shocker,” Gonzales said.

He added that all the jurors were disappointed with the outcome. “Here we spent three months of our lives on this case and all of a sudden, here we go, it’s judgment day. But it didn’t happen that way.”

Centrone said it was “very frustrating.” He was also aggravated that Hartwell didn’t disclose his writings sooner.

“We thought that we had come up with a proper award,” Centrone said. “And even if they would have replaced him, we would have come up with the exact same result.”

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meg.james@latimes.com