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Lawyers at the Civil Aviation Authority were concerned about the leaks, which could cause far more pain than bad publicity.
It was January, days after news leaked that he had lost a legal battle over the high-profile exits of four clients — Jack Whigham, Dave Bugliari, Michael Cooper, and Mick Sullivan — who had left to help Peter Micheli start the management firm Range Media Partners in 2020.
By all accounts, this was a crushing defeat for the agency. An arbitrator sided with the Range founders that CAA violated their contracts and fiduciary duties to them when it voided their shares in the wake of their departure, a ruling that could net millions of dollars for each of the agents.
Perhaps most importantly, the CAA’s claims that clients had stolen trade secrets on their way out and set up a rival agency masquerading as a management company were dismissed. Within a month, these details were circulating. “We think it’s highly inappropriate for someone — and we think it’s on the other side — to leak the decision,” CAA lawyer Bo Pearl said during a court hearing in January.
The arbitration was the subject of a contentious email exchange between the two sides. The Brian Lord-led CAA was seeking discovery on another case, but Ring — upset by the agency’s refusal to process requests for extradition — backed out.
“Why does your team repeatedly ignore our emails regarding the arbitration award and related documents?” asked Elissa Samplin, Ring’s attorney, in a Jan. 12 letter, later adding that “the delay in this matter was clearly tactical,” according to court documents. CAA lawyer Stephen McIntyre was blunt: “The arbitration is not over yet.”
These actions are one of three battlefronts in a steadily escalating legal war targeting core parts of acting businesses. Range CAA is accused of recruiting illegal agents for top agents. The Civil Aviation Authority accuses Range of operating as an unlicensed agency. A win by either side could severely hamper the other’s operations.
This is where this whole saga gets dicey and why the leaks matter: Range’s legal team We’re not supposed to know Actual details of the arbitration award.
The decision is currently covered by a court order preventing disclosure, meaning that Ring’s lawyers handling the ongoing case are not supposed to know, only those four dissident clients. Range’s founders were a party to the arbitration, not the management company itself. But the leak, whose source is unknown, was significant because it laid the groundwork for Ring to say she learned of the outcome in the press and inserted the ruling into the legal battle. In a nod to reports that the matter had been decided, the company in March called in its lawyer who won the arbitration, Brian Friedman, to make the decision.
It’s a clever legal maneuver, which could lead to the CAA’s claims being dismissed sooner rather than later. The agency has appealed the subpoena, arguing that the presentation of the arbitration award amounts to a final round-up of the confidential nature of the proceedings. If you ask Range, the arbitration award is an important part of its defense. It is a belief that the ruling could almost completely overturn the CAA case.
However, it is only a matter of time until the appeal of the ruling is decided. At that stage, the court said it would consider the decision and whether the CAA’s claims should be dismissed under that ruling.
For now, both sides are looking to narrow the scope of the charges against them as they move toward trial. The court in March allowed Range’s unfair competition claim to proceed while dismissing its tortious interference claim, which accused CAA of undermining the company’s potential employment of agency employees who wanted to become managers by threatening to revoke the rights of dissident workers. Despite the feud, Range and CAA maintain more than 150 customers in common.
The dynamism puts the management company in the first place for recruitment more However, as it currently stands, any agent looking to move to the Range may seek out a CAA attorney.
This story appeared in the April 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
