Mixed Ruling in CAA Vs. UTA

While Judge Lisa Hart Cole rejected UTA’s motion to dismiss some portions of the suit, she did throw out CAA’s claims for attorneys fees, for instance, according to Variety. She also struck punitive damages allegations against UTA, but allowed them to go forward against agents Gregory Cavic and Gregory McKnight – two of the agents that jumped ship to UTA in April 2015.

Cole also threw out CAA’s claims for attorneys, reportedly because those “costs were not recoverable for the claims being made,” according to Variety.

Of the initial five agents to defect in the exodus from CAA to UTA, Nick Nuciforo, Martin Lesak and Jason Heyman are now in private arbitration proceedings, the paper reports.

Cole ruled that rather than being “hyperbolic prose befitting a dime store novel,” as depicted by UTA, CAA’s claims were in fact relevant to its claims for intentional interference and breach of fiduciary duty.

UTA had objected to CAA’s  “allegations of conspiracy to ‘steal clients and employees’ from CAA, as well as ‘the clandestine manner in which they carried out their plans,’” according to Variety.

Calling the allegations “inflammatory,” UTA argued they were “irrelevant, false, improper or immaterial matters, which have absolutely nothing to do with this action but are prejudicial to the defendants.”

UTA did not walk out of court empty-handed. Cole reportedly struck CAA’s move for punitive damages, but will allow CAA to file an amended complaint if it can provide specifics to support the claim that Cavic and McKnight signed potential CAA clients for UTA during last year’s Sundance Film Festival, which they attended on behalf of CAA – and to allege that “officers, directors or managing agents” of UTA authorized them to.

“We are thrilled the court granted UTA’s motion and decided to strike CAA’s claim for attorneys fees and also decided to strike the punitive damages allegations against UTA,” attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement quoted by Variety.

In a statement to the paper from CAA attorney Anthony Oncidi said: “The judge ruled on a pleading CAA filed last September. Since that time, CAA has learned through discovery that UTA’s high-level management was directly involved in the wrongful actions that they and the individual agents undertook.  Judge Cole invited CAA to amend its pleading to add those additional facts to the pending lawsuit, which CAA said it would do within 20 days.”