A Montgomery County judge, in effect, told Jon Gosselin his 15 minutes of fame were over.
On Thursday, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Michael Mason ordered Gosselin to give up media appearances because of an ongoing lawsuit between the reality TV star and Silver Spring-based Discovery Communications, which owns TLC, where Gosselin’s show, “Jon & Kate Plus Eight,” aired.
Discovery sued Gosselin for breach of contract after Gosselin started appearing on shows like “Entertainment Tonight” without Discovery’s permission. Mason granted Discovery a preliminary injunction to prevent future appearances.
According to Greg Grant, co-chairman of the business litigation and employment litigation groups at Shulman Rogers in Potomac, Md., this move does not bode well for Gosselin’s case.
“This was a big, big development and a big loss for Jon Gosselin,” said Grant, who is not affiliated with the Gosselin-Discovery lawsuit, but analyzed the case for Yeas & Nays. “The judge indicated that he has a strong inclination that Jon Gosselin breached the agreement.”
The trial is slated for April, but, Grant explained, with this recent development, Gosselin has a lot more reason to settle.
“Most of these cases don’t go on for very long,” he said. “Once you lose this round and are enjoined from this activity, what really happens is this creates a lot of incentive for the parties to resolve this matter.”
