LOS ANGELES (CN) - The former wife of science fiction author Philip K. Dick says her stepdaughters are cheating her of proceeds from two of Dick's novels, income the late writer allegedly promised her during their divorce.
Tessa B. Dick says Laura Leslie and Isa Dick Hackett owe her half the profit from the movie versions of "UBIK" and "A Scanner Darkly." Leslie and Hackett are Philip K. Dick's daughters from an earlier marriage.
Leslie is trustee for the Philip K. Dick Trust. Together, the daughters run Electric Shepherd Productions, which manages the late author's works.
Tessa Dick claims that she made "substantial contributions" to her husband's work. As part of their 1976 divorce arrangements, Tessa Dick says she gave up her partial ownership in "a number of literary properties which Mr. Dick started," in exchange for half of the proceeds from "UBIK" and "A Scanner Darkly," in whatever form the novels might one day be produced.
Tessa says her stepdaughters stopped paying her royalties in 2000. Nevertheless, she says, in 2006 she agreed to pay "thousands" in lawyer fees to have movie contracts written for the film version of "A Scanner Darkly."
Leslie and Hackett later refused to let her see the production contracts for which she had paid, according to the lawsuit. Leslie allegedly told her that accounting for the royalties would be "too much trouble."
In a final attempt to silence her, Tessa Dick says, Leslie threatened to "impoverish" the trust to keep Christopher Dick, Tessa's son with the author, from getting any money.
Dick's other novels formed the basis for the movies "Bladerunner," "Total Recall," and "Minority Report." He died in 1982.
Tessa B. Dick is represented in Superior Court by Laura Castner with Zuber & Taillieu.
Follow @@karinapdx
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
Alaska, Hawaiian Airlines April 17, 2024 -
-
Contributor-Test-Post-2024-04-12 April 12, 2024 -
