Novelist Clive Cussler Told to Pay $13.9M Legal Bill in Licensing Dispute

A best-selling novelist who lost a California lawsuit contending that moviemakers breached a licensing agreement had already been ordered to pay $5 million in damages.

But now another $13.9 million has been added to his litigation tab. Under a Los Angeles Superior Court ruling this week, Clive Cussler must pay the legal fees for his opponent, Crusader Entertainment, in the hard-fought case over script approval for the Sahara movie based on his book, recounts a Hollywood Reporter article excerpted by Reuters.

And that's in addition to the $8.5 million or so that Cussler has paid his own lawyer, Bert Fields, the article notes.

The meter apparently is still running at a rapid clip, too, since the case is now on appeal.