DEAN CAIN AND RACHEL BLANCHARD STAR IN "THE CASE FOR CHRISTMAS" A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE WORLD PREMIERE, HOLIDAY 2011

Hallmark Channel's "Countdown to Christmas," Preeminent TV Holiday Destination

Dean Cain ("Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," "The Three Gifts") stars as an up-and-coming attorney who is representing Santa Claus and defending the magic of Christmas in one of the biggest law suits the world has ever seen in the World Premiere of "The Case for Christmas," a Hallmark Channel Original Movie premiering Holiday 2011. The holiday movie also stars Rachel Blanchard ("7th Heaven"). Hallmark Channel's "Countdown to Christmas," one of the most anticipated seasonal events in entertainment, features more holiday-themed programming than any other network.

Michael Sherman (Cain) is a lawyer and single father struggling to obtain more clients. Being a single working dad, Michael doesn't have time to think about a relationship or work on the classic car he inherited from his parents, but his friend Lauren (Blanchard) is a mechanic who helps rebuild the family heirloom and begins to fall for him. Michael (Cain) takes on a case that could make or break his career... and Christmas. The majority of the population is losing faith in Santa Claus (George Buza "X-Men") and the Christmas spirit. To make matters worse, Santa is served with a class action lawsuit for irreparable emotional distress by sporting-goods mogul Braxton Bennett (Barry Flatman "The Kennedys") who never received the holiday gifts he wanted as a child. Santa believes he has a strong case because Braxton was always on the naughty list and asked for gifts, like a yacht, that were unattainable. Santa hires Michael Sherman to represent him. Once the trial between Kris Kringle vs. Braxton Bennett begins, Michael finds it's much tougher defending Santa Claus than he had initially predicted. Braxton presents a case of Santa's neglect and the biggest gift giver in the universe has difficulty deflecting the accusations.

As Santa's public stock continues to plummet, the press makes Michael the laughing stock of litigators. Both Michael's and Santa's careers are in jeopardy and it will take a miracle for a pouting, overgrown kid like Braxton to come to the realization that Santa always gives the most appropriate gift possible to every child.

"The Case for Christmas" is a Chesler/Perlmutter Production. Lewis Chesler, David Perlmutter and Rob Vaughn are executive producers. Marek Posival is producer. Timothy Bond directed from a script by Tom Amundsen.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of 87.5 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel is the nation's leading network in quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies, lifestyle and general entertainment content, and is the home of "The Martha Stewart Show", which anchors the channel's new daytime HOME block. Hallmark Channel's sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel, also available in HD and SD, which focuses on the family-friendly movies with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, original Hallmark Channel movies and special events.