required to pay Cussler $8.5 million for rights to the second book. On March 10, 2009, the same judge ordered Cussler to pay $13.9 million in legal fees to the production company. A year later, in March 2010, the California Court of Appeals overturned Judge Shook's decision to award Anschutz and Crusader $5 million in damages and nearly $14 million in legal fees. Cussler then attempted to restart legal proceedings in July 2010 by filing a new lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming the appeals court gave him back the right to recover the $8.5 million he believed Crusader owed him on a second book. In response, the production company's lawyer said, "They're trying to pretend this wasn't already litigated. Cussler has never been able to accept the fact that he lost this case. He didn't accept the jury verdict, then for a year they tried to get the trial court judge to say the jury determined (Cussler was) entitled to $8.5 million and the court said absolutely not. They then sought an appeal and it didn't work. Then they appealed to the California Supreme Court and they didn't take the case. So, despite having had multiple courts say no, they are trying all over again." There were no further developments in the case for almost three years until December 2012 when both parties were back in court to hear which side was responsible for paying the case's $20 million legal bill. However, the Second Appellate District for California's Appeals Court declared that "there was no prevailing party for purposes of attorney fees." It concluded that "after years of litigation both sides recovered nothing -- not one dime of damages and no declaratory relief." References External links 2005 films 2005 action comedy films 2000s adventure comedy films 2000s buddy comedy films American action adventure films American action comedy films American adventure comedy films American buddy comedy films British action comedy films Dirk Pitt films 2000s English-language films English-language German films English-language Spanish films Films about friendship Films based on adventure novels Films based on American novels Films directed by Breck Eisner Films produced by Mace Neufeld Films scored by Clint Mansell Films set in Africa Films set in the Sahara Films set in Mali Films set in Niger Films set in Nigeria Films shot in Morocco German action adventure films Paramount Pictures films Spanish action adventure films Films