Stan Lee‘s daughter J.C. Lee has settled a multimillion dollar lawsuit she filed against a man who oversaw her father’s memorabilia dealings in the final years of his life.
In the suit, originally filed in 2019, she accused her father’s former longtime road manager Max Anderson of elder abuse and siphoning millions of dollars in memorabilia, autograph revenue, and appearance fees.
A trial was slated to start next week, but the parties filed a notice of settlement on Thursday and informed the court of a deal to resolve the case.
As reported by Variety, the lawsuit alleged Anderson misappropriated more than USD$21 million (AUD$32 million) towards the end of Lee’s life, including over USD$11.6 million (AUD$18 million) in autograph revenue. There were also claims he took several collectibles and memorabilia, such as Batman creator Bob Kane’s original drawing of the Joker and props featured in the Marvel movies.
“A settlement agreement has been executed and once its terms are satisfied, it resolves all of the issues and disputes between and among the Parties,” the attorneys said in a joint notice.
Witnesses at the trial, including Anderson’s twin brother who worked security at some events, were slated to testify they saw him handle “duffle bags” of cash, according to court filings. His ex-wife was also set to tell the court of “stacks of cash” he kept in a bedroom safe, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Lee — one of the creators behind some of the most iconic Marvel characters like Iron Man, Black Panther, Spider-Man, the Avengers, and X-Men — died in November 2018, aged 95.
According to J.C. Lee’s lawsuit, Anderson met her father at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2006 and handled his memorabilia affairs for about a decade, until Lee cut ties in 2017.
The lawsuit alleges Anderson eventually gathered a significant collection of memorabilia over several years, claiming it would be part of a “Stan Lee Museum.” But the items ended up in storage at a comic book store that Anderson co-owned. The lawsuit also alleged Lee had no awareness of what he was giving away.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the lawsuit claimed Lee signed an agreement before he died granting Anderson a worldwide license for use of his name and likeness in perpetuity for a dollar.
Meanwhile, Anderson has said he can’t identify which items were part of the museum, claiming a lot of them were either stolen, damaged, or tossed out because they didn’t seem valuable. This was disputed by J.C.’s legal team, who pointed to a lawsuit he filed over missing collectibles from his own home, including original movie props like Nebula’s arm from Guardians of the Galaxy and a set of X-23 claws from Logan.
In the lawsuit, Anderson was accused of pushing Lee to work long hours until months before his death, and stealing at least $11.1 million (AUD$17.3 million) in autograph revenue and $10.2 million (AUD$15.9 million) in appearance fees.
In response, Anderson said he didn’t receive monetary compensation for his work and was paid in the forms of autographs on collectibles. Over the decade he worked with Lee, he attended some 111 comic book convections with the comic book boss around the world.
Back in 2019, Keya Morgan, the former business manager accused of imprisoning and financially abusing Stan Lee before his death, was arrested and charged for allegedly stealing USD$222,480 (AUD$346,000) from three memorabilia signings. A judge threw out the case after a jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal.
Lead image: Getty
