Franklin Sues Resolution

Franklin was brought in by Resolution CEO Jeff Berg as a top lieutenant when the company launched in Jan. 2013. Franklin and Resolution voluntarily settled his contract, which the suit alleges included a severance of $150,000 to be paid in five monthly installments plus $1 million for his ownership shares.

The agreement was inked June 5. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court July 24, also seeks pre-judgment interest and costs. In the complaint filed by Franklin and his company Another Time, Inc., the former exec claims he was paid the first installment in June, but received nothing in July.

He also charges that Resolution made the first payment of $250,000 for his shares, but has yet to pay that balance.

While the voluntary settlement agreement includes a confidentiality clause, an unredacted copy was attached to the complaint as Exhibit A and also shows that Franklin, via ATI, is entitled to 50 percent of the commissions collected by Resolution going forward for one year after the agreement for Ritchie Blackmore, Patti LaBelle and Lou Gramm.

The settlement agreement also acknowledges that Franklin was able to leave without a non-compete.

Franklin did agree, however, to not solicit or hire any Resolution clients for six months without the company’s permission. It’s been a tumultuous ride for Resolution since putting out the shingle in 2013.

The agency was sued later that year by Berg’s former company, ICM Partners, over commission claims being made by agents who’d jumped ship with their former boss.

That case was settled in March. Following Franklin’s departure, music agent Terry Rhodes – who also left ICM to join Resolution – also exited the company, as did a few other agents across departments.