WME Fraud Lawsuit From ‘La La Land’ Composer Gets 2023 Jury Trial Date
deadline.comUPDATE, 10:25 AM: Get your tickets now! WME is heading to trial next year over a fraud lawsuit from La La Land’s Oscar winning composer.A Los Angeles Superior Court judge this morning set May 8, 2023 as the date the court battle between Justin Hurwitz and the Endeavor-owned talent agency and the now divested Endeavor Content.
The almost certain to be juicy jury trial in DTLA will be overseen by Judge Barbara Scheper.“Despite WME’s Writer’s Guild experience, it’s previous claims of conflicts of interest and the forced sale of 80 percent of Endeavor Content, in less than a year, WME will have to explain to a Jury why it continued its tortious conduct and disregarded the fiduciary duty it owed to its client Justin Hurwitz,” the composer’s lead attorney Bryan Freedman told Deadline today after a status conference on the matter. “That date cannot come soon enough.”Hard hitting Freedman and colleague Tamar Yeghiayan sued the Ari Emanuel-led units earlier this year over an alleged financial reverse bait and switch that saw the now-CAA repped Hurwitz dramatically shortchanged for a touring version of his music from the acclaimed 2016 film from director Damien Chazelle.WME did not respond to request for comment on the trial date being set.
Previously, when the fairly vivid complaint was first filed in January, the agency had said “these claims are without merit and WME intends to vigorously defend itself.”Which clearly they are going to have to now. PREVIOUSLY, JAN 10 AM: EXCLUSIVE: A stinging lawsuit filed Monday by the composer of La La Land may leave WME wishing they’d been slipped the wrong envelope.However, unlike the Academy Awards’ Best Picture debacle of 2017, the breach of contract, negligence and fraud complaint by
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