{"id":404825,"date":"2025-11-26T01:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T01:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/404825\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T01:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T01:11:14","slug":"caa-slams-ranges-last-ditch-effort-countersuit-in-poaching-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/404825\/","title":{"rendered":"CAA Slams Range’s “Last Ditch Effort” Countersuit In Poaching War"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCAA<\/a> hasn\u2019t quite come out and called BS on Range Media Partners<\/a>\u2018 noncompete-focused counter-complaint in the companies\u2019 yearlong poaching legal battle, but they got pretty close.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe facts are clear: the four former agents forfeited their rights to profit from CAA when they began a competing business using stolen CAA property for use at Range, all while still working at CAA,\u201d the uber-agency\u2019s attorney Bo Pearl said Tuesday, about 16 hours after Range fired its latest salvo off in L.A. Superior Court<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt has taken years to uncover the layers of deception, but the videos, texts, and emails they so desperately have tried to hide reveal all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis last-ditch effort is devoid of merit,\u201d the newishly minted Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner (formerly of Paul Hastings) concluded of the jury trial-seeking-filing of late last night by Range\u2019s Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher team.<\/p>\n

\n\tHitting the court docket just over a year after CAA sued the Pete Micelli-founded Range and its chieftains for the\u00a0stealing of clients and trade secrets the lifting of confidential data and information and more, the November 24 countersuit also comes nearly three years into the ongoing arbitration slugfest between the principals over canceled equity and other compensation to ex-CAAers and now Range warlords Jack Whigham, Dave Bugliari, Mick Sullivan, and Micheal Cooper.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Range\u2019s filing Monday, the management company (or is it a talent agency in sheep\u2019s clothing, as CAA claims?) asserted that the JAMS arbitrator has \u201calready ruled as a matter of law, that CAA\u2019s noncompetes are invalid and illegal.\u201d Citing a Puck report, attorneys Ilissa Samplin, Orin Snyder, Jillian London and Daniel Nowicki insist that CAA\u2019s side has \u201ccollapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, whatever is or is not happening in a confidential process behind closed doors, the fact is no final ruling from the arbitrators is expected until next year, I hear.<\/p>\n

\n\tCorrespondingly, and no doubt why Range went on the offense this week, CAA has seen most of the previously dismissed claims<\/a> of Range\u2019s so-called sticky fingers and\u00a0the Concealment of Unlawful Conduct sub-claims allowed back into the public case by Judge Mark Young.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn that context, Range this week took aim at what it calls the Bryan Lourd-run agency\u2019s move of late \u201cweaponizing illegal noncompete agreements to intimidate and punish employees who consider joining Range.\u201d Alleging violation of unfair competition law and tortious interference, the injunction and $1 million damages desiring countersuit declares \u201cthis conduct is not only vindictive; it is a direct attack on employee mobility and fair competition \u2014the very public policies California\u2019s century-old ban on noncompetes was enacted to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tToday, Range\u2019s outside counsel Samplin and Snyder swipe away CAA\u2019s response to their client\u2019s countersuit by doubling down on the noncompete of it all. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNo amount of spin from CAA will hide the truth,\u201d the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partners exclaimed. \u201cIt bullied its own employees with illegal non-competes and has zero defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe look forward to holding them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd you thought the Paramount, Comcast and Netflix bids for Warner Bros Discovery was a dog fight \u2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for what\u2019s next: taking the end of year round of holidays into account, CAA\u2019s lawyers have around 30 days to respond to Range\u2019s countersuit. So, for this week, Happy Thanksgiving. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAA hasn\u2019t quite come out and called BS on Range Media Partners\u2018 noncompete-focused counter-complaint in the companies\u2019 yearlong…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":404826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[56905,171,49431,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-404825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-caa","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-range-media-partners","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115613341179234103","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}