Thank you! I’m glad my post triggered your professional response and your detailed clarifications.
I was CEO of a technology corp. for 10 years where most of our contracts were 7 figure negotiated (by moi) with Fortune 500 co’s. and I’ve dealt with hundreds of contracts of all types - and I drafted preliminary employment contracts/non-competes for another tech corp. where a rock-solid non-compete was required and I was a Sr. VP. Then our attorneys took my first draft and got them “legal”. And much of what you pointed out I learned from my attorneys years ago. But I am not an attorney and have never played one on TV! So thanks - I’m sure all the Freepers who read your post will appreciate it.
Do you not think it likely that in spite of solid grounds for breach of contract that A&E is still likely to go to court, and for the case to be messy?
And it will be interesting to see what happens with the other individuals.....
Well, I’m not in the reality show business, so I’m not necessarily in a position to know the full calculus of A&E going into this. Messy is a nice threat to hang over someone’s head, but actual follow through is another matter. No one really likes messy except for the attorneys. A&E may value their generally progressive brand enough to “protect” it from contamination by reality show cast members, but they may also value getting past this as quickly as possible. Reality show “controversy” is good as long as it fits the product and brand models. Otherwise, it may simply be a detriment with no upside. In which case settlement becomes the best choice.
One more thing. I’ve seen a few of these reality show contracts online, and they can be nasty nasty contracts, full of provisions that no sane person would agree to. I’m not researched up on the specific case law, but I’m betting a number of those provisions would have a tough time if tested in court, might be tossed as unconscionable. There are some things you cannot contract away. I would think A&E’s longer term interests would be better served by not having the validity of their reality show contracts vetted by an unfriendly judge.