Fatal Subtraction

In 1988, Art Buchwald, America’s most popular humorist, and his partner, Alain Bernheim, sued Paramount Pictures, claiming that the studio failed to give them credit for the original story of Eddie Murphy’s hit Coming to America. To represent them, Buchwald and Bernheim hired Pierce O’Donnell, the brash, charismatic Los Angeles trial lawyer whom Forbes has called "the new Perry Mason." In Fatal Subtraction, O’Donnell and Dennis McDougal chronicle the enthralling narrative of the history-making four-year-long clash between a writer/producer team and the corporate monolith that pulls the strings of a modern motion picture studio. After O’Donnell proved that Paramount used Buchwald’s story, the studio asserted that the $350-million-grossing movie never earned "net profits" for his clients. Buchwald v. Paramount has changed forever the way business is done in the "Industry."