Buffalo business exec Nicholas Stracick has filed a
civil suit for "more than" $1B against the Walt Disney Co.,
contending that the company "stole his idea for its Wide
World of Sports Complex," according to Richard Verrier of
the ORLANDO SENTINEL. Stracick claims that Disney used his
"trade secrets" to develop the sports complex after he and a
business partner invested more than $100,000 and three years
designing the project. Verrier writes the case is "unusual
because of the size of damages Stracick is seeking ... and
the fact that Stracick has recruited celebrated attorney
Johnnie Cochran to fight Disney." Stracick claims in his
suit that he pitched his idea to Disney execs in September
'86. Disney attorney David Evans said of the suit, "The
world is full of Mr. Stracick's idea. He doesn't own the
idea. The notion of putting together sports facilities with
athletic events has been around since the days of the
ancient Greeks." According to the lawsuit, during the next
three years, the two sides met 50 times and exchanged more
than 500 phone calls. Jury selection for the trial began
yesterday (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 7/11).
