"n Sync Case Settlement Talks Ordered

LOS ANGELES-While the parties involved in the "N Sync lawsuit await an official ruling regarding Trans Continental and BMG Entertainment's request for a preliminary injunction against the group's shift to Zomba Music's Jive label, the judge presiding over the case has made one thing clear: She does not want to see the accompanying lawsuit go to trial.
Orlando, Fla.-based U.S. District Judge Ann Conway has ordered the litigants to participate in settlement talks Monday and Tuesday (6-7). "She is aggressively scheduling settling conferences with the full force of her gavel," says "N Sync attorney Adam Ritholz. "There was some discussion about a trial date, and she said an early trial date for her is 2001."
The parties were directed to begin settlement discussions on Nov. 24, immediately after Conway heard oral arguments on the preliminary injunction. The hearing was the first salvo in the lawsuit filed by Trans Continental, its head Louis Pearlman, and BMG Entertainment in October against "N Sync and Zomba over the group's effort to jump from BMG-owned RCA to Zomba-owned Jive (Billboard, Oct. 23).
While another "N Sync attorney, Helene Freeman, released a statement declaring that "the judge expressed [on Nov. 24] that at this time she is not inclined to grant the injunction," Conway's court clerk stresses that no official ruling has been filed.
To that end, Pearlman's attorneys filed a motion on Nov. 30 seeking permission to submit additional material for consideration by the judge before she announces her ruling on the injunction.
"She raised questions concerning the evidence, so today [Nov. 30] we filed motions to conduct expedited discovery for the injunction," says Pearlman/Trans Continental attorney William Pringle. "We also asked for the opportunity to cross-examine all of the witnesses on behalf of the group."
Conway's clerk did not know when the judge was expected to issue her ruling.