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Wednesday 08 February 2017 3:21 pm

Lawsuit gets turned up to 11 as Spinal Tap back together to sue Vivendi for $400m

By: Hayley Kirton

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The band's back together: Members of mock rock group Spinal Tap have reunited to sue Vivendi.

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Rob Reiner have joined a legal action brought by Harry Shearer, claiming the French media giant has failed to properly share profits since it bought the rights to the 1984 cult film This Is Spinal Tap. 

Shearer's original claim was for $125m (£99.9m), but the four men combined have effectively turned the case up to 11 and they are now pursuing $400m. 

Read more: Attorney general reveals his fee for the Article 50 case

"What makes this case so egregious is the prolonged and deliberate concealment of profit and the purposeful manipulation of revenue allocation between various Vivendi subsidiaries – to the detriment of the creative talent behind the band and film," said Reiner, according to the Guardian, which first reported the news. 

Meanwhile, Shearer praised his former band members for joining him, remarking: "Their participation will help demonstrate the opaque and misleading conduct at the heart of this case. We're even louder now."

Vivendi declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.

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