Thus begins the decision by a Washington federal judge who on Thursday found enough puns in the extensive catalogue of James Bond films to move a lawsuit against MGM and and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment forward.
Mary Johnson is suing on behalf of herself and other completistswho insist the distributors of James Bond films were deceptive in marketing a box set purporting to include “all” of the films but missing Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983). Those two films weren’t MGM films for reasons recounted in our earlier story, but are owned by MGM now.
The defendants, staring at a putative class action claiming a violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act and breaches of express and implied warranty, argued that any reasonable consumer would review the box-sets’ outer packaging and then open the box-sets to review their inner contents and figure out what really was included in the Bond box set.
“At this time, the Court will Live and Let Die,” writes U.S. District Court judge Ricardo Martinez, meaning he thinks some claims should live and others should be shot down by a Walther PPK.
MGM tried to convince the judge that the words “all” and “every,” enjoyed by class action lawyers everywhere, aren’t actionable and that fans of David Niven are out of luck.