NCOPM Predicts Court Ruling Will Impact Showbiz Reps
PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- An upcoming ruling by the 9th Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals on the constitutionality of a California statute will have a profound impact on show business talent representatives nationwide.
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Originally adopted to protect ingenues starting out in Hollywood, the California Talent Agencies Act (TAA) has generated controversy for decades as celebrities used the statute to terminate representation contracts by accusing their personal managers of procuring employment without a talent agency license.
The National Conference of Personal Managers (NCOPM) has petitioned the Court to declare the TAA unconstitutional and stop its enforcement.
"A ruling striking down the TAA will end oppressive violations of the civil rights of personal managers who have wrongfully forfeited more than one-half billion dollars in compensation, resulting in bankruptcy, divorce, foreclosure, suicide and other tragedies," said Clinton Ford Billups Jr., NCOPM National President.
An NCOPM website (www.StopTAA.org) names numerous film, music and television celebrities who used the TAA to void contracts to avoid paying managers, including the winner of a network television talent competition who filed a TAA petition last month to void his management contract.
The lawsuit, naming defendants Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su, claims the TAA violates due process and equal protection rights, burdens and interferes with interstate commerce, impairs the obligations of personal management contracts, burdens and restricts commercial speech and results in involuntary servitude without claims of fraud, non-performance or criminal conduct.
"Since the TAA protects millionaire celebrities and California-based talent agencies, a ruling finding the TAA constitutional will deal a severe blow to the future of non-California talent representatives, whether they are personal managers or talent agents," said Mr. Billups.
An amicus brief supporting the NCOPM lawsuit was filed by the Music Managers Forum-US and the Talent Managers Association, along with several prominent entertainment attorneys and law professors, stated, "For decades, the California Talent Agencies Act and the California Labor Commissioner have unfairly singled out personal managers and deprived them of their constitutional rights" and the TAA "was intended to protect artists; it should not be sanctioned as a weapon against their managerial representation." Former managers of Jefferson Airplane, The Platters and The Deftones told the Court that they forfeited millions of dollars and were victims of emotional and financial suffering as a result of the TAA.
"The Hollywood Reporter" recently called the TAA "a decades-long requirement some say is an outdated 'disgrace'" and added, "Many now believe that agent licensing has outlived its usefulness." The "Los Angeles Daily Journal" entitled an article analyzing NCOPM's claims, "A Generation of Incorrect Talent Agencies Act Decisions."
Last week, in a unanimous opinion that legal arguments were adequately presented in case briefs, the Court ordered the lawsuit submitted without oral arguments. A ruling is expected within several months.
The case citation is Nat'l Conf. of Personal Mgrs v. Edmund Brown, Jr., et al, Case No. 13-55545, 9th Cir.
Contact: Clinton Billups, 702-837-1170, email.
SOURCE National Conference of Personal Managers
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