Uri Geller - Litigation

Litigation

Geller has litigated or threatened legal action against some of his critics with mixed success. These included libel allegations against Randi and illusionist Gérard Majax.

In 1971, a mechanical engineering student called Uri Goldstein attended one of Geller's shows, and subsequently sued the show's promoters for breach of contract. He complained that Geller had promised a demonstration of several psychic powers but had delivered only sleight-of-hand and stage tricks. The case came before the civil court in Beersheba. Geller was not present as the summons had been sent to the office of the promoter Miki Peled, who had ignored it as being trivial. Goldstein was awarded 27.5 lira (around $5) for breach of contract. Later, Goldstein admitted that he went to the show specifically with the intent of suing to get his money back, and he had already found a lawyer to represent him prior to attending the performance.

In 1992, Geller filed a $15 million suit against Randi and CSICOP for statements made in a International Herald Tribune interview in April 9, 1991, but he was unsuccessful because the statute of limitations had expired. In 1994 Geller asked to dismiss without prejudice, and he was ordered to pay $50,000 for the publisher's attorney fees. After not paying in time, Geller was sanctioned with an additional $20,000. Due to the sanction, the suit was dismissed with prejudice, which, according to Randi's attorneys, means that Geller can't pursue the same suit in any other jurisdiction. In 1995 Geller and Randi announced that this settled "the last remaining suits" between him and the CSICOP. As part of the settlement, Geller agreed not to pursue the payment of the 1990 Japanese ruling, in exchange for Prometheus Books inserting an errata on all future editions of Physics and Psychics, correcting erroneous statements made about Geller. According to Truzzi, Randi had spent all the money from his McArthur award, and his current attorney was working pro bono.

In a 1989 interview with a Japanese newspaper, Randi was quoted as saying that Geller had driven a scientist to "shoot himself in the head" after finding out that Geller had fooled him. Randi afterwards claimed it was a metaphor lost in translation. However, in a previous interview with a Canadian newspaper, Randi said essentially the same thing: "One scientist, a metallurgist, wrote a paper backing Geller's claims that he could bend metal. The scientist shot himself after I showed him how the key bending trick was done." In 1990, Geller sued Randi in a Japanese court over the statements Randi had made in the Japanese newspaper. Randi claims that he could not afford to defend himself, therefore he lost the case by default. The court declared Randi's statement an "insult" as opposed to libel, and awarded a judgement against Randi for ¥500,000 (at the time about US$4400) (according to Randi, only "one-third of one-percent of what he'd demanded"). Randi feels that, since the charge of "insult" is only recognized in Chinese and Japanese law, he was not required to pay. Later in 1995 Geller agreed not to pursue payment of the Japanese fine. Randi maintains that he has "never paid even one dollar or even one cent to anyone who ever sued" him.

In 1991, Geller sued Timex Corporation and the advertising firm Fallon McElligott for millions in Geller v. Fallon McElligott over an ad showing a person bending forks and other items, but failing to stop a Timex watch. Geller was sanctioned $149,000 for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

In 1998, the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) in the United Kingdom rejected a complaint made by Geller, saying that it "wasn't unfair to have magicians showing how they duplicate those "psychic feats'" on the UK Equinox episode "Secrets of the Super Psychics" (this film, made by Open Media, was known on first transmission as Secrets of the Psychics but should not be confused with the earlier NOVA film of the same name). The full text of the BSC adjudication is available online here.

He also considered a suit against IKEA over a furniture line featuring bent legs that was called the "Uri" line.