Kitty Yancey, USA TODAY
The Hustler magazine publisher won a major court victory over his estranged brother Thursday when a federal judge in Cincinnati ruled that he is the sole owner of his pornography company.
Flynt's brother, Jimmy Flynt, had claimed he was a partner in the business and asked the judge to give him half the company.
But U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman said Larry Flynt has been the clear leader of the company for most of its 40 years and that he officially became its sole shareholder in the 1970s.
"Jimmy has adduced no credible evidence that there ever was a partnership," Bertelsman wrote in his decision.
Larry Flynt made the same argument when he testified in January, arguing that his younger brother never was more than an employee and that he fired him for incompetence more than once.
He said his brother's lawsuit claiming ownership in the company was a desperate attempt to punish him for firing Jimmy and his two sons.
"He really wanted to destroy me," Larry Flynt said Thursday. "He really wanted to take everything."
The Flynt brothers have feuded occasionally for years, but the most recent dispute began after Larry Flynt fired his brother's sons, who then launched their own pornography business using the Flynt name.
Larry Flynt won a trademark case against his nephews in California, fired Jimmy and tried to evict his brother from his downtown Cincinnati Hustler store. When the eviction attempt failed, Larry opened a competing Hustler store just a few blocks away.
Jimmy Flynt, who vowed to appeal Thursday's ruling, said his lawsuit was about getting fair compensation for contributing to the Hustler business.
He said the early Hustler clubs in Cincinnati were in his name because of Larry's legal troubles and that he kept the business afloat in the 1980s when his brother endured drug addiction and a mental breakdown.
But the judge said Jimmy Flynt never was a legal partner and had described himself on several occasions as an employee.
"It's surprising, but there's nothing to do but go forward," Jimmy Flynt said Thursday after the judge issued his ruling. "We still have some other issues to settle."
Those issues include a trademark fight over Jimmy Flynt's use of the Hustler name on his store, which he still is operating even though he leases the property from his brother.
Larry Flynt said he doubts the two can settle their differences out of court at this point, and that the chances of reconciling with his brother are remote.
"As far as I can see, he brought it all on himself," he said.
