A judge has dismissed Terrence Howard’s lawsuit against Creative Artists Agency LLC in which the actor alleged the talent agency fraudulently convinced him to take less money for his “Empire” role.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Cherol Nellon issued her ruling on Friday after having heard arguments July 22 and taken the issues under submission. The judge found that Howard had failed to create a triable issues as to his entitlement of damages. She judge explained that even if there was an increase in compensation it would have been to the benefit of Howard’s loan-out company, Universal Bridges, and not the actor.
A loan-out company is a personal business structure created, usually by an actor, musician, writer, or athlete, in which the company’s creator becomes an employee of their own corporation and the company loans out their services to third-party studios or other employers.
In their court papers in support of dismissing or paring Howard’s suit, CAA attorneys argued that Howard lacked standing to bring his claims and that they were barred by the statute of limitations. The defense lawyers also maintain that CAA negotiated diligently on his behalf and that his claims and damages are speculative as well as “utterly meritless.”
But in a sworn declaration filed in opposition to the CAA dismissal motion, Howard said CAA did not do enough to advocate on his behalf.
“Fox rejected the $750,000-per-episode demand and stated it was not prepared to increase my compensation beyond $325,000 per episode,” Howard said. “Had I known before the meeting that CAA would not present or advocate its own proposed strategy directly to Fox, I would have insisted that CAA put that strategy in writing to Fox before Mira Howard (Howard’s former wife) and I met with Fox or made any direct demand.”
Howard said he had a “limited and mistaken” understanding of packaging in July 2019.
“I believed CAA’s package might cause money to be taken from my back end or result in me paying more than a standard commission,” according to Howard. “I did not understand CAA’s actual package economics, how those economics could affect CAA’s incentives, or CAA’s internal package-fee discussions concerning Empire.”
Before documents were produced in his lawsuit, Howard did not have CAA’s internal package-fee records, CAA’s internal discussions about seeking additional Empire package money from Fox, Fox’s records or documents showing what CAA did or did not present to Fox regarding his compensation, according to Howard.
“Had CAA disclosed those facts when they mattered, I would have sought independent advice separate from CAA, required corrected compensation information, insisted on a written demand to Fox and reconsidered whether CAA should continue advising me regarding `Empire,”’ Howard further said.
Howard contended that he did not immediately know he was a victim of alleged fraud.
“Despite this feeling of trust, it would be years later that Howard would discover that CAA … placed their own financial interests, as well as the interests of the production companies they also represented, ahead of his own,” the lawsuit filed in December 2023 stated.
Although Howard, 57, knew that CAA was packaging the project and receiving a fee, he was unaware of the conflicts of interest CAA was faced with by not only having their own financial interests incorporated into the project, but in also representing the actors and the production companies, the suit stated.
While the producers want to keep the top line production budget as low as reasonably possible, actors want to be paid the maximum value for their work, the suit stated.
“Empire” had a debut pilot that reached nearly 10 million viewers, marking Fox’s highest-rated debut in three years, the suit stated.
“As a result, `Empire’ was an instant success, not only exceeding the network’s viewership expectations, but also bringing in significant praise by critics throughout the entertainment industry,” the suit stated.