John
08-17-2009, 09:59 PM
The legal wrangling over the lawsuit filed by Joe Hamilton and Deep South Wrestling against World Wrestling Entertainment over the latter's decision to sever their developmental territory agreement continued on 8/6 as Hamilton's attorneys responded to WWE attempts to have the entire lawsuit dismissed.
WWE has claimed in their previous filing that Hamilton and DSW "failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted." and that the lawsuit against failed to address any alleged wrongdoing on WWE's part in regard to the end of the DSW relationship. In their last filing, WWE's attorneys claimed the entire situation was, "a misguided attempt to use litigation to lash out against WWE over disappointment with WWE's decision to terminate the parties' business relationship." WWE also claimed that contractually, they had every right to sever the agreement.
Hamilton's response was that WWE and Hamilton each had a 90 day clause in their contractual agreement that either side could terminate the contract with that 90 days' notice being used as a buffer to complete planned business that was already in place. That buffer would have allowed for alternative planning to be made, all loose ends to be tried up and have forced WWE to continue to pay DSW and Hamilton for the duration of that time period.
In the suit, Hamilton noted that he had set up a series of live DSW events to be performed at the Six Flags park in Georgia and had set up additional events that would have benefited The American Cancer Society and M.A.A.D.A. for the summer of 2007. In the case of the Six Flags events, Hamilton had arranged for WWE to send talents for each of those live shows. According to Hamilton's filing, had WWE given them the 90 days' notice, the two sides could have worked during that time period on those events while closing up the developmental territory.
The 8/6 filing noted, "Because compliance did not fit nicely into WWE's plans, it opted to take matters into its own hands and to act tortuously, unlawfully, maliciously and with conscious indifference to the consequence of its action." WWE officials Mike Bucci and John Laurinaitis arrived on 4/18/07 to inform Hamilton that WWE's was severing its agreement with DSW, just days prior to the first of a series of events DSW had booked for Six Flags in Georgia that would have featured WWE performers on top. Hamilton's suit noted that WWE's decision prevented DSW from performing on the scheduled events that summer for both Six Flags and other planned charitable events, causing DSW liability damages in the amount of $320,000 and Hamilton personal damages to the tune of $56,000.
The 8/6 filing noted that "WWE was surreptitiously making arrangements to consolidate and move its operations to Florida" before they severed their deal with DSW. According to Hamilton, once Florida (FCW) was set up, they didn't need Hamilton and didn't "want to compete" with him, so they severed the deal in an unprofessional manner.
In other words, the second Florida Championship Wrestling was ready to go, Hamilton alleges WWE broke their agreements with himself and DSW. The filing noted, "When WWE elected to ignore its contractual obligations and act unlawfully, its egregious conduct went beyond mere breach of contract as the Defendant suggests. When it terminated its relationship with DSW and 71 year old Hamilton, in clandestine fashion, it provided no notice or warning. It did not request permission to enter the premises. It sent no less than four men to Hamilton's Georgia facility and in mob-like fashion, took control of a facility leased by Hamilton and DSW. They then physically stripped away all functional equipment owned by Hamilton and DSW and improperly interfered with the personnel necessary to perform DSW's existing obligations."
Hamilton's filing reiterated that WWE was well aware of planned DSW events that were scheduled to take place before WWE showed up "in the dead-of-night" to close down the territory, renting a U-Haul, bringing it to the DSW facility, having its wrestlers pack everything up and then having DSW property driven to Tampa, Florida.
The filing also alleged that WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis gathered all of the independent wrestlers scheduled to perform on said events and "issued an ominous warning. He cautioned them that 'if they ever stepped foot in this (DSW's facility) building again or had anything to do with Hamilton or DSW', their relationship with WWE would end and they would 'never work again in the wrestling industry."
Noting the power of WWE within the industry, Hamilton claimed that "not one wrestler" was willing to step foot onto one of his scheduled shows. Hamilton also noted that WWE classifies their contracted talent as "independent contractors" and shouldn't be able to instruct them where to work, and in this case, treated them as employees. Obviously a good percentage, if not the majority of aforementioned wrestlers, would have been under WWE developmental contracts and would have to go where WWE assigned them to train and work, so it should be interesting to see how the court interprets this aspect of the case.
Hamilton's filing claimed that WWE's new program in Florida would have been in direct competition to DSW, so WWE went out of their way to "blackball" DSW from being able to maintain their professional obligations with the entities that has agreed to work with DSW, hurting DSW's professional reputation as well as the third-parties that lost wrestling events as well.
The latest filing closed with the following: "WWE took matters into their own hands, disregarding the laws governing society and business. In doing so, its hoped that after functionally and financially crippling 71 year old Joe Hamilton and his business, he would away for little or nothing. WWE now seeks the shield of the very contract it ignored. Goliath, having misbehaved, now seeks to have the Court take away David's sling."
The latest filing did not address WWE's attempt to throw out Hamilton's claims of suffering from emotional distress due to the situation. In April Hamilton claimed WWE's "intentional actions were intended to cause Hamilton severe emotional distress." The lawsuit requested that Hamilton personally and DSW, as a company, recover all damages arising from WWE's breach of contract and that Hamilton recover damages arising from "Defendants willful and intentional infliction of emotional distress" as well as any punitive damages ruled by a jury. WWE's response to that claim was to note that Hamilton did not file the emotional distress claim within two years, as legally required. Hamilton's April 2009 filing came two days after the cut-off. WWE also stated that in addition to the late filing, that claim, "must be dismissed as a matter of law because even accepting all factual allegations are true for purpose of this motion to dismiss, WWE's alleged actions do not rise to the level of extreme and outrageous conduct necessary" for such a claim to be filed legally.
WWE has claimed that Hamilton's breach of contract allegations are "fatally deficient" since they do not provide any actual allegations beyond WWE's decision to sever the DSW territory. WWE's last motion claimed that Hamilton claims a breach of contract without "allegations as to any contractual obligation that WWE supposedly breached." The latest response obviously fuels Hamilton's side of the story.
WWE has claimed in their previous filing that Hamilton and DSW "failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted." and that the lawsuit against failed to address any alleged wrongdoing on WWE's part in regard to the end of the DSW relationship. In their last filing, WWE's attorneys claimed the entire situation was, "a misguided attempt to use litigation to lash out against WWE over disappointment with WWE's decision to terminate the parties' business relationship." WWE also claimed that contractually, they had every right to sever the agreement.
Hamilton's response was that WWE and Hamilton each had a 90 day clause in their contractual agreement that either side could terminate the contract with that 90 days' notice being used as a buffer to complete planned business that was already in place. That buffer would have allowed for alternative planning to be made, all loose ends to be tried up and have forced WWE to continue to pay DSW and Hamilton for the duration of that time period.
In the suit, Hamilton noted that he had set up a series of live DSW events to be performed at the Six Flags park in Georgia and had set up additional events that would have benefited The American Cancer Society and M.A.A.D.A. for the summer of 2007. In the case of the Six Flags events, Hamilton had arranged for WWE to send talents for each of those live shows. According to Hamilton's filing, had WWE given them the 90 days' notice, the two sides could have worked during that time period on those events while closing up the developmental territory.
The 8/6 filing noted, "Because compliance did not fit nicely into WWE's plans, it opted to take matters into its own hands and to act tortuously, unlawfully, maliciously and with conscious indifference to the consequence of its action." WWE officials Mike Bucci and John Laurinaitis arrived on 4/18/07 to inform Hamilton that WWE's was severing its agreement with DSW, just days prior to the first of a series of events DSW had booked for Six Flags in Georgia that would have featured WWE performers on top. Hamilton's suit noted that WWE's decision prevented DSW from performing on the scheduled events that summer for both Six Flags and other planned charitable events, causing DSW liability damages in the amount of $320,000 and Hamilton personal damages to the tune of $56,000.
The 8/6 filing noted that "WWE was surreptitiously making arrangements to consolidate and move its operations to Florida" before they severed their deal with DSW. According to Hamilton, once Florida (FCW) was set up, they didn't need Hamilton and didn't "want to compete" with him, so they severed the deal in an unprofessional manner.
In other words, the second Florida Championship Wrestling was ready to go, Hamilton alleges WWE broke their agreements with himself and DSW. The filing noted, "When WWE elected to ignore its contractual obligations and act unlawfully, its egregious conduct went beyond mere breach of contract as the Defendant suggests. When it terminated its relationship with DSW and 71 year old Hamilton, in clandestine fashion, it provided no notice or warning. It did not request permission to enter the premises. It sent no less than four men to Hamilton's Georgia facility and in mob-like fashion, took control of a facility leased by Hamilton and DSW. They then physically stripped away all functional equipment owned by Hamilton and DSW and improperly interfered with the personnel necessary to perform DSW's existing obligations."
Hamilton's filing reiterated that WWE was well aware of planned DSW events that were scheduled to take place before WWE showed up "in the dead-of-night" to close down the territory, renting a U-Haul, bringing it to the DSW facility, having its wrestlers pack everything up and then having DSW property driven to Tampa, Florida.
The filing also alleged that WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis gathered all of the independent wrestlers scheduled to perform on said events and "issued an ominous warning. He cautioned them that 'if they ever stepped foot in this (DSW's facility) building again or had anything to do with Hamilton or DSW', their relationship with WWE would end and they would 'never work again in the wrestling industry."
Noting the power of WWE within the industry, Hamilton claimed that "not one wrestler" was willing to step foot onto one of his scheduled shows. Hamilton also noted that WWE classifies their contracted talent as "independent contractors" and shouldn't be able to instruct them where to work, and in this case, treated them as employees. Obviously a good percentage, if not the majority of aforementioned wrestlers, would have been under WWE developmental contracts and would have to go where WWE assigned them to train and work, so it should be interesting to see how the court interprets this aspect of the case.
Hamilton's filing claimed that WWE's new program in Florida would have been in direct competition to DSW, so WWE went out of their way to "blackball" DSW from being able to maintain their professional obligations with the entities that has agreed to work with DSW, hurting DSW's professional reputation as well as the third-parties that lost wrestling events as well.
The latest filing closed with the following: "WWE took matters into their own hands, disregarding the laws governing society and business. In doing so, its hoped that after functionally and financially crippling 71 year old Joe Hamilton and his business, he would away for little or nothing. WWE now seeks the shield of the very contract it ignored. Goliath, having misbehaved, now seeks to have the Court take away David's sling."
The latest filing did not address WWE's attempt to throw out Hamilton's claims of suffering from emotional distress due to the situation. In April Hamilton claimed WWE's "intentional actions were intended to cause Hamilton severe emotional distress." The lawsuit requested that Hamilton personally and DSW, as a company, recover all damages arising from WWE's breach of contract and that Hamilton recover damages arising from "Defendants willful and intentional infliction of emotional distress" as well as any punitive damages ruled by a jury. WWE's response to that claim was to note that Hamilton did not file the emotional distress claim within two years, as legally required. Hamilton's April 2009 filing came two days after the cut-off. WWE also stated that in addition to the late filing, that claim, "must be dismissed as a matter of law because even accepting all factual allegations are true for purpose of this motion to dismiss, WWE's alleged actions do not rise to the level of extreme and outrageous conduct necessary" for such a claim to be filed legally.
WWE has claimed that Hamilton's breach of contract allegations are "fatally deficient" since they do not provide any actual allegations beyond WWE's decision to sever the DSW territory. WWE's last motion claimed that Hamilton claims a breach of contract without "allegations as to any contractual obligation that WWE supposedly breached." The latest response obviously fuels Hamilton's side of the story.