We brought the news in early March that there was some movement in the court case between Diamond and numerous publishers. The various parties and Diamond met on February 26 and March 3-4 in an attempt to find a resolution, the nature of the claims and defenses, to arrange disclosures, and propose a discovery plan. On March 4, there was a filing hashing out the plan for discovery, the process where documents pertaining to the case are handed over.
The issue is who owns the consigned goods that are still being held by Diamond. Ablaze, Battle Quest Comics, American Mythology Productions, Action Lab Entertainment, BOOM! Entertainment, and Fantagraphics are all fighting to get their inventory back. Diamond wants to keep the inventory to be able to sell it off to pay creditors. JPMorgan Chase Bank wants Diamond to sell off the inventory so it can get paid back by Diamond. Sparkle Pop is involved because it has sold off some of the inventory when it wasn’t supposed to and currently is holding the physical product in a warehouse it controls.
We said in our recent reporting that the earliest the trial would happen is November but likely December due to holidays. Well, we were off, because there is now a “hearing on dispositive motions” is set for January 27, 2027. That’s a hearing that asks the court for a ruling before a trial begins. The trial is expected to last 3 to 4 days.
How recent moves to have Diamond’s claims over the consigned inventory dismissed by other publishers, as well as the Trustee’s proposed deal with Sparkle Pop to sell the consigned goods impacts this is unknown… but get settled, because this could go for quite a while.
Fellow is an example of one of the orders released today.
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Source: Graphic Policy
