PHILADELPHIA — The former coach of Wilt Chamberlain is suing Celebrity Home Entertainment and Eye Film Releasing Inc., alleging fraud and breach of contract regarding video footage titled The Greatest Player Ever.
Cecil Mosenson filed a lawsuit Dec. 9 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Celebrity Home Entertainment Inc., Eye Film Releasing Inc., and Robert Feinstein, alleging breach of contract, fraud, conversion, civil conspiracy and unjust enrichment.
According to the complaint, Mosenson coached high school basketball for 34 years at four different schools, won 325 games, and coached the Maccabi USA Under-16 team to a gold medal in 1999. In his early 20s, the suit says, he was hired to coach at Overbook High School where he would coach future NBA Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain in the early 1950s and later he would write a book It All Began With Wilt.
On Nov. 28, 2011, the lawsuit states, the U.S. Copyright Office registered the plaintiff’s claim to copyright and issued certificates of registration for audio-visual work about Chamberlain titled The Greatest Player Ever. The plaintiff and defendants entered into a contract on Dec. 20, 2011, granting the rights to the video coverage to the defendant, the complaint says.
Mosenson alleges on several occasions, from 2012 through the present, the defendants withheld financial information regarding the film, defrauded him, sold the rights to Hulu on April 22, 2015, and has yet to return the film to him.
Mosenson seeks damages of more than $75,000, exclusive of interest fees, and costs. He is represented by attorney Jared A. Jacobson of The Law Firm of Jacobson & Rooks LLC, in Narbeth.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Case number 2:15-cv-06519-SD