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World Wrestling Entertainment filed a motion today to dismiss the lawsuit brought against them in April 2009 by Joe Hamilton (who wrestled as the Assassin) and his company, Deep South Wrestling in the State of Georgia, claiming that WWE had breached their contract with DSW. In their motion, WWE claimed that Hamilton and DSW "failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted."
World Wrestling Entertainment claimed in their filing that Hamilton and DSW have failed to address any alleged wrongdoing on WWE's part in regard to the end of the DSW relationship. WWE claimed in the 25 page filing that Hamilton's lawsuit was, "a misguided attempt to use litigation to lash out against WWE over disappointment with WWE's decision to terminate the parties' business relationship."
Hamilton's version of events was that he and DSW were "fully compliant" with their contractual agreement with World Wrestling Entertainment. That partnership saw Hamilton personally paid a salary of $80,000 and Deep South Wrestling, the company, paid $80,000 to provide developmental training for WWE talents. They were to also provide a TV outlet, which the lawsuit claims was provided and aired in the Southeastern United States and Canada (I believe on The Fight Network) for those talents as part of a "talent exchange program".
In the suit, Hamilton noted that he had set up a series of live DSW events to be performed at the Six Flags park in Georgia and had set up additional events that would have benefited The American Cancer Society and M.A.A.D.A. for the summer of 2007. In the case of the Six Flags events, Hamilton had arranged for WWE to send talents for each of those live shows. In the April filing, Hamilton claimed that WWE planned to sever their relationship with DSW all along, yet acted as if nothing was wrong by arranging talent for the Six Flags event. Several days before the first Six Flags event was to take place, WWE officials (Mike Bucci and John Laurinaitis, although they are not named in the suit) arrived on 4/18/07 to inform Hamilton that WWE's was severing its agreement with DSW. The first Six Flags date was set for 4/22/07. Hamilton's suit noted that WWE's decision prevented DSW from performing on the scheduled events that summer, causing DSW liability damages in the amount of $320,000 and Hamilton personal damages to the tune of $56,000.
WWE responded to that claim in today's filing, commenting, writing "WWE is not alleged to have done anything, much less anything unlawful" in regard to any third-parties that Hamilton and DSW had gone into business with. WWE noted that the claim was, "lacking any basis for liability against WWE".
Hamilton alleged that the DSW deal required WWE to provide DSW and himself with 90 days notice that the deal was ending, which did not happen. He also claims WWE "arranged through an intentional and calculated method" to time their officials' arrival at DSW's place of business without providing notice to Hamilton or DSW. Hamilton alleged WWE "made every effort" to prevent him from knowing they were coming to the premises as their "plans were to remove all personal and computer information" without anyone from DSW being present.
Hamilton's lawsuit alleged that when WWE severed their ties on 4/18, they "removed wrestling rings, seating, computer hardware, software, and information belonging to DSW." The suit noted that "shared personnel" were informed they were being transferred (to OVW and later FCW) and should have "no further dealing" with Hamilton and DSW.
WWE's response to interfering with the wrestlers and DSW is that the company couldn't have because there were no contracts between DSW and the wrestlers that WWE could have interfered with and that WWE was aware of any business relationships the wrestlers had with DSW, since WWE assigned the wrestlers there in the first place. WWE also states that Hamilton and DSW fail to present any arguments that WWE induced others not to work with and for DSW, especially since the talents were under contract to WWE to begin with. WWE did not respond to the other claims mentioned above.
One of Hamilton's claims in the April filing was that he suffered from emotional distress from the situation. In April Hamilton claimed WWE's "intentional actions were intended to cause Hamilton severe emotional distress." The lawsuit requested that Hamilton personally and DSW, as a company, recover all damages arising from WWE's breach of contract and that Hamilton recover damages arising from "Defendants willful and intentional infliction of emotional distress" as well as any punitive damages ruled by a jury.
WWE tried to throw the emotional distress claims out the window in today's filing, noting that Hamilton did not file the emotional distress claim within two years, as legally required. Hamilton's April 2009 filing came two days after the cut-off. WWE also stated that in addition to the late filing, that claim, "must be dismissed as a matter of law because even accepting all factual allegations are true for purpose of this motion to dismiss, WWE's alleged actions do not rise to the level of extreme and outrageous conduct necessary" for such a claim to be filed legally.
WWE closed their motion noting that Hamilton's breach of contract allegations are "fatally deficient" since they do not provide any actual allegations beyond WWE's decision to sever the DSW territory. WWE's motion claimed that Hamilton claims a breach of contract without "allegations as to any contractual obligation that WWE supposedly breached."
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For those of you who subscribe to the Elite section, former WWE executive Mike Bucci and I discussed the DSW shutdown in detail in the interview I conducted last month. It can be found in the Interviews area. For those of you who would like to subscribe to the Elite section, visit http://www.pwinsider.com/elitenav.php.
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