LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp has won the dismissal of a U.S. lawsuit brought by vehicle owners in 14 other countries who said their Toyotas lost value because of the Japanese automaker’s mishandling of alleged unintended acceleration problems.

U.S. District Judge James Selna said the plaintiffs could not bring their claims in a U.S. court, saying they “have not shown that their alleged economic loss is fairly traceable to Toyota Motor Corp’s U.S.-based marketing actions.”

Nov 12 (Reuters) – The bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers have
sought court permission to auction the team’s lucrative media
rights earlier than scheduled to bolster the sale of the team
under a recent settlement with Major League Baseball, according
to court documents filed on Saturday.

MLB previously opposed Dodgers owner Frank McCourt’s effort
to solicit bids for future media rights, valued at about $3
billion, which sparked a lawsuit against the team by News
Corp’s Fox subsidiary.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A damages expert asserted Trust Company of the West (TCW) is owed $81.7 million in royalties due to trade secret theft as the high-profile civil case pitting the asset mangement firm against its former chief investment officer Jeffrey Gundlach resumed on Tuesday.

Both sides sued each other in one of the most contentious battles to grip the multitrillion bond fund world after Gundlach was fired from TCW in December 2009 and set up a rival firm, DoubleLine Capital.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Debt holders of Energy
Conversion Devices have formed an ad-hoc committee and
hired legal and restructuring advisors, as the company faces
the same pressures that led to the high-profile bankruptcy of
Solyndra, said a source familiar with the matter.

Bondholders, who hold 70 percent of the company’s debt,
tapped Brown Rudnick as legal counsel and Duff & Phelps as
financial advisors, the source told Reuters on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the
matter.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Federal officials on Wednesday arrested a Florida man and charged him with 26 counts of cyber-related crimes against Hollywood celebrities following an 11-month federal probe dubbed “Operation Hackerazzi.”

Victims included actresses Scarlett Johansson, “Black Swan” star Mila Kunis and pop singer Christina Aguilera, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lions Gate Entertainment Corp shareholders voted for all 12 of the company’s board nominees in a victory against hostile suitor Carl Icahn, who had proposed a dissident slate.

The vote signaled the latest win for Lions Gate in its long and costly war with the billionaire shareholder, who launched a hostile $7.50-a-share bid and for years has criticized the studio that makes “Mad Men” for bad management.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Carl Icahn said it would be “virtually impossible” to win board seats at Lions Gate Entertainment Corp’s (LGF.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) annual meeting after a court denied his motion to block a big investor from voting his full stake.

But the billionaire activist shareholder vowed to aggressively protect his investment and urged shareholders to vote their dissatisfaction with the studio that is home to the hit television series “Mad Men,” at the annual meeting on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Lions Gate Entertainment
(LGF.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) won a key court victory against hostile bidder Carl
Icahn while investor advisory firms gave a mixed assessment of
the proxy battle, with one urging full support of Icahn’s
slate, ahead of the company’s annual meeting next week.

Three influential shareholder investor firms, Institutional
Shareholder Services, Glass Lewis & Co, and Egan-Jones, took
the studio’s financial performance to task, but only one fully
supported Icahn’s five board nominees ahead of Lions Gate’s
annual meeting on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Netflix Inc (NFLX.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is in
talks to renew a key deal with Liberty Media Corp’s (LSTZA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
Starz movie channel, but the popular online video provider said
the deal was not essential to its success.

Netflix — which has emerged as a force in Hollywood and
has seen its stock jump around ninefold over the past two years
– said it was in contact with Starz and believes it will reach
a deal, but sees a bright future even without the movie channel
as it continues to forge ahead with other content deals such as
the one announced on Wednesday with Walt Disney Co’s (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
ABC network.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Online video provider Netflix Inc said on Tuesday its long-time chief financial officer Barry McCarthy has resigned and will be succeeded by company finance veteran David Wells, sending its shares down in after-hours trading.

A Netflix spokesman said McCarthy first expressed his intention to resign in 2004, but decided to remain as the company built itself into a DVD rental and streaming powerhouse.