Milestone Media is being sued by Charlotte McDuffie, the widow of the late co-founder Dwayne McDuffie. According to Los Angeles county court filings obtained by Variety, the widow is suing the company and its officers for "Breach of Fiduciary Duty," "Aiding and Abetting Breach of Fiduciary Duty," "Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Relations," "Fraudulent Conveyance," "Civil Conspiracy To Commit Fraudulent Conveyance," and "Accounting."
McDuffie passed away as a result of complications from heart surgery in 2011 at the age of 49. In 2015, Hudlin joined Milestone Media to sprearhead a revival of the company - and announced a partnership with DC Entertainment soon after. According to Hudlin, the idea for Milestone's revival came out of a conversation which occurred during McDuffie's wake.
According to McDuffie's suit, the deceased owned a 50% stake in Milestone Media with co-founder Derek Dingle owning the other half. Court documents say that Dingle, Hudlin, and and co-founder Denys Cowan founded a new company - Milestone Media Company LLC - and began using the original Milestone Media's intellectual properties.
"The individual defendants here - Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan, and Derek Dingle - have engaged in reprehensible conduct following Dwayne McDuffie's untimely death," reads the lawsuit. "The beneficiaries of McDuffie's estate are his wife, Charlotte, and his 78-year-old mother, Edna. Hudlin, Cowan, and Dingle have literally stolen from McDuffie's widow and elderly mother, while pretending to downplay their theft as just 'two years of legal paperwork.'"