Jury Tells David Chase: Yes, You're Original

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Leave it to "The Sopranos" creator David Chase to jocko a fugazi canary in court. A New Jersey federal jury returned a verdict against a former judge who claimed he helped Chase create the hit HBO series.

Peter Skolnik, the lawyer for Chase, relied upon a time-tested legal strategy to knock down this "idea theft" lawsuit. He pointed to others who had provided crucial inspiration for "The Sopranos," including "true Mafia expert" Dan Castleman, chief of the Manhattan district attorney's investigations division, who testified on Chase's behalf.

Chase also got on the witness stand. “‘The Sopranos’ is me, my mother, my uncles,” he testified. “It was my life. It was me. I try to be original in everything I do. To have someone say I’m not original, it made me sick.”

After the verdict, Chase compared the plaintiff's claims to "a fly buzzing in my bathroom for seven years, and we finally swatted it." He says he's been "inspired" by the case so expect Chase's next project to be something like an adaption of Franz Kafka's "The Trial," starring James Gandolfini as the misunderstood Josef K. We can't wait.