Adam Carolla Sued by Former Partners; Alleges Carolla Wants All the Marbles

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/adam-carolla-sued-allegedly-breaking-413374

Adam Carolla Sued for Allegedly Breaking Partnership Agreement (Exclusive)

1:37 PM PST 1/17/2013 by Eriq Gardner

Donny Misraje says his long-time friend behaved "dictatorial" and forced him and two others out of a growing podcast business.

Adam Carolla, host of the most downloaded podcast in the world and a recent addition to the Fox News Channel, is being sued by his former producer Donny Misraje for allegedly breaking their partnership agreement without cause.

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in LA Superior Court and alleges that Misraje, his wife Kathee, and Sandy Ganz, a technology expert with a 10 percent ownership interest in the partnership, have not been paid for their "sweat equity" to make Carolla's podcast enterprise work.

According to the complaint asserting breach of partnership agreement, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and more, "Though Carolla has repeatedly acknowledged the partnership agreement between himself (60%), Mr. Misraje (30%) and Mr. Ganz (10%)...he has since wrongfully 'kicked' Plaintiffs out of the business and seeks to exclude them from their share of the Partnership profits, all while he continues to reap the benefits of the business that Plaintiffs conceived of and developed."

Misraje says he has been a very close friend of Carolla for 30 years and was the individual responsible for convincing Carolla to try the podcast format when in February 2009, Carolla hit a "professional crossroad due to the abrupt cancelation of his syndicated radio talk show, [on CBS Radio]" according to the lawsuit.

The Adam Carolla Show was launched that year, and Misraje and Carolla allegedly entered into a partnership to execute Misraje's "vision to build a 'multi-media podcasting network.'"

Misraje says he left a job in the entertainment business that paid $231,000 a year to work full time on the new venture. His wife says she likewise left her work to devote herself to the new business. They say that during this time, they contributed $10,000 in capital to the venture, exhausted their accrued health insurance hours earned through a trade union, and they "forewent any compensation for over a year and lived off a home equity line of credit in exchange for the promise of deferred partnership contributions."

By 2010, the partnership was said to have generated significant profits. The following year, profits rose by 75 percent. During the build-up, Carolla is said to have "himself suffered no detriment to his lifestyle" thanks to continued pay-outs from his CBS contract and that he allegedly assured them that they would "all get rich" and be "sending [their] kids to an expensive college."

"We are taking this gamble together and it will pay off ten-fold in the end," Carolla told them, according to the complaint.

The relationship is said to have gone sour in 2011 when the plaintiffs sought to enforce their rights to equal decision making. The complaint paints Carolla as "increasingly dictatorial and threatening" and at one point, Carolla ordered his producer to cease traveling to the live show, putting him on a three-month probation and threatening to exclude live show revenue from the partnership income.

By September, 2011, Carolla fired them.

"Since unilaterally ousting Mr. Misraje and Mr. Ganz from the Partnership, Carolla has attempted to paint a picture for the public that Mr. Misraje was insubordinate, unable to 'get along' with anyone, unproductive and simply not 'up to the job.'" says the complaint. "Such statements represent disingenuous rhetoric."

The plaintiffs are represented by Gregory Doll at Doll Amir & Eley.

Carolla's representatives have been contacted and if we get a response, we will add it.

 

If true, that's a fucking dick move. His partners clearly put a ton of work into his show and got jack shit from it even though the podcast is very successful.

Carolla... what an asshole. Never liked his politics & opinions and now I see why... he has no morals.

 

Ouch. He's being sued from all directions.

 

Isn't there some sort of software patent lawsuit, also?

 

Yup. http://splitsider.com/2013/01/adam-carollas-company-sued-over-patent-dispute/

And any other popular podcast can be sued as well. If these fucks win, say bye-bye to the world of podcasting as we know it. If these fucks have their way, you're going to have to pay to get your shit out there.

 

It's not true. "Sweat equity" is code for "we didn't have any financial equity" in the company. They claim they put a ton of work into the company. But Adam paid them out of his own pocket for that work that they did. Once the company was done, a company that Adam owned in full, he fired them.

This is like hiring contractors to put a pool in your house. Then after they are done the contractors say that they get to swim in the pool 30 percent of the time because of their "sweat equity" that they put in. It's a sham. You get paid for your work in a company. You don't get to own part of the company. Adam hired some contractors to build him a studio and a podcast setup. He paid them a full wage for it just like you'd pay a company to build you a pool or an extension on your house.

Adam hired these guys to build a studio and wire it up. Why should they get money every time he makes a podcast out of that studio? They had literally nothing to do with the content being put out in those podcasts.

 

Not a good week for the Ace Man - he's going to be paying lots of legal fees for these cases. If this claim is true, sounds like he learned how to screw the minions from Howard.

Radar Online has a copy of the full complaint - http://amradaronline.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/adam-carolla-complaint.pdf

 

Simple fix. Form a new Company Sell the assets to that company at a loss. File Bankruptcy...

Business does this shit all the time... its all about the terms of a contract.. in the negotiating. Looks like they had none of that. Just ask howard how important the details of any negotiation is and contract. If only his beloved manager had negotiated A bonus scheduled if Sirius Bought Xm instead of just a "Merger"..... Devils in the details... always

 

I used to like the Ace man but he became more and more of a crotchety, selfish, self-important douche. Him signing on to be a court jester for Bill O'Reilly sealed it for me. Haven't listened to him in ages.

 

2.

Let me get this straight. Are you saying they should get to go swim in Adam's pool?

 

translation; doesn't like his politics, period.

 

That's BS. I fucking hate Jay Thomas' politics, but I still listen to his show and enjoy it. I agree with Carolla's politics way more than I do Jay's, but I find his show unlistenable.

He's an arrogant, verbose, whiny douche bag who loves the sound of his own voice. I've never heard another human being so impressed with themselves and devoid of humility.

In the last couple of months, I became an "O&A" fan...and I put that title in quotes because I like Anthony, Jim Norton and the overall format. I can't stand Opie. Anthony's further to the knee-jerk right than Corolla has ever been. You can't pull that, "It's because of his politics" shit. It just so happens to be that Carolla is a blowhard douche bag. Nothing more.

 

I saw Adam live, and someone in the crowd shouted out something about "the Wheez". Adam didn't look too impressed. I don't know why Adam and Donnie split.

 

Is Donnie the Jew broad who claims that she had no idea that she was a Jew broad?

 

If there is no written contract (which sounds like there isnt) than Adam can tell them to fuck off.

 

this

in addition to the cranky old man routine he's gotten way too salesy with things: sangria? really? that's where we're going?



his "hardest working man in show biz" routine isn't really working for him. it's just wearing him down and making him crankier. and nobody's asking him to work that hard....................aside from his wife. nobody's clamoring for him or his opinions or his sangria.

i'm no leno fan, but carolla's appearance on jaysgarage perfectly summed up the difference between doing the "hardest working man in show biz" right, and doing it wrong. carolla looked like a complete ass; a little-leaguer clearly out of his depth.

he needs a break; go home, be a dad, drive your cars, drink your sangria and stfu for a while.

and he seems to have disagreements with a lot of people; personal, business................he just can't get along.

 

^This. He's turned from sarcastic and irreverent into an angry and bitter old prick.

I think his career going nowhere while Jimmy Kimmel's skyrocketed has had a lot to do with it.

Didn't know about him becoming another one of Shill O'Lielly's buttboys. That makes sense. Adam is another Dennis Miller....another angry bitter fuck who couldn't handle it when their career petered out....

 

donny fucked up, after all adam has done for him. i can't stand bitter carolla anymore, but i'm on his side on this one

 

i guess the book "the secret" was right after all. adam sits all day complaining about stupid nonsense and not enjoying life, lack of appreciation for his fortune and family....fuck him

 

jews are like that