Ex-MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan has had a kind of weeks the place you lose one and also you win one, kinda.
Coming off LA Superior Courtroom Decide Kerry Bensinger’s Might 16 ruling to grant Kassan’s want to see the fallout from his abrupt and messy March exit from UTA and the vitial noncompete clause moved behind closed doorways to arbitration, issues had been trying good for the exec heading right into a publicly said return to his consolation zone of Cannes Lions Worldwide Pageant of Creativity in June. Yeah, the company can nonetheless pursue some claims later as soon as the arbitration progresses and the keep is eliminated, however that gained’t be till at the very least November 15 below the court docket’s schedule.
Issues had been trying good for easy operator Kassan till one other LASC Decide at present determined to tentatively shut down the ex-CEO’s $125 million defamation case in opposition to sharp elbowed Hollywood litigator Bryan Freedman.
Again on March 25, UTA exterior counsel Freedman informed Deadline (truly me to be particular) that Kassan was a “pathological liar.” Mirroring the precise greenback quantity UTA bought strategic advisory agency MediaLink for in late 2021, Kassan went after Freedman for the quip 4 days later together with his pointed swimsuit. Kassan’s personal Michelman & Robinson, LLP authorized staff painted the comment by the Freedman Taitelman + Cooley companion as “sharp-shooting character assassination.”
Whereas no closing ruling has been issued but, Decide Daniel S. Murphy made it fairly clear in a tentative launched this morning that he thinks Freedman was properly inside his authorized tights below California’s anti-SLAPP legislation to say what he so bluntly stated within the spring.
Noting the times of authorized and public salvos between the as soon as companions, Decide Murphy famous that Freedman’s “pathological liar” description of Kassan “was made within the context of a extremely publicized, contentious dispute between Kassan and UTA involving allegations in each instructions.” He added that the “context is important to the totality of the circumstances take a look at as a result of it exhibits that the assertion was made in an adversarial setting and heated dispute whereby the individuals had been anticipated to make use of epithets and hyperbole which a median reader wouldn’t take as reality.”
In reality, with a nod to that Deadline piece of March 25, the decide notes: “the article exhibits that Kassan himself accuses UTA of mendacity” too and that “courts have discovered that accusations just like calling somebody a ‘liar’ had been nonactionable.”
At Monday’s listening to on the matter and the tentative, Kassan lawyer Mona Hanna informed Decide Murphy that she couldn’t “think about any situation wherein an lawyer can defame a celebration to an lively litigation that may be extra egregious than this instance.” Asking the decide to rethink his tentative, she went on to argue: “This may be principally giving absolute immunity to an lawyer representing a celebration to say something they need about an opposing get together.”
Neither reps for UTA or Kassan had any touch upon at present’s listening to or Decide Murphy’s tentative. If and once they do, this put up will probably be up to date.
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Nevertheless, when it got here to final week’s arbitration ruling by Decide Bensinger, either side waved a victory flag.
“Our focus is on supporting the good work MediaLink continues to do on behalf of its shoppers, and to unlocking new alternatives collectively,” a UTA spokesperson informed Deadline at present. “We proceed to pursue this matter by means of authorized channels and are assured that the details will prevail,” the Jeremey Zimmer-led company added.
“UTA broke its personal arbitration settlement, similar to it broke Michael Kassan’s contract,”Kassan lead lawyer Sanford Michelman stated within the aftermath of Decide Bensinger’s resolution. “Kassan waived his severance which supplies him the appropriate to compete and UTA’s try at making an attempt to break him in public with these frivolous prices has failed.”
Whether or not or not Kassan unveils a brand new banner within the south of France or not, UTA named a brand new MediaLink management staff in mid-April. Donna Sharp, Andrea Kerr Redniss and Lena Petersen ae operating the corporate’s Advertising and marketing Consulting unit, whereas Media & Tech Technique Consulting is below the management of Christopher Vollmer, Devrie DeMarco and Mark Wagman.
Numerous the new-ish MediaLink chiefs had been named as UTA companions final week.
