Former Foundry partner Yfat Reiss Gendell told the New York Supreme Court that she agrees to and joins in former partner Peter McGuigan’s request for a temporary receiver to manage the agency’s affairs. The two continue to disagree on how to oversee Foundry’s business, with each blaming the other for the obstruction. Gendell’s new filing alleges that, “McGuigan continues to refuse to pay various service providers, such as Foundry’s transactional counsel, refuses to pay for rent and utilities for Foundry’s office, and refuses to authorize Foundry to make payments on its line of credit.” Significantly, Gendell also wants the court-appointed […]
Legal
People, Etc.
At Delacorte, Kelsey Horton has been promoted to senior editor and Alison Romig has been promoted to assistant editor. Merry Sun has been promoted to editor at Portfolio. Jordan Moblo has joined Netflix in the new role of director of literary, and is expected to hire a team under him. He was co-head of the creative acquisitions department at Disney. Renée Jarvis and Kima Jones both join Triangle House Literary as agents. Jarvis was at MacKenzie Wolf Literary; Jones is the founder of Jack Jones Literary Arts. Grace Ross has joined Acast as content development manager, acquiring new and existing podcast partners. […]
People, Etc.
At Penguin Random House, Sashia Sadikot is promoted to director, national accounts, Target adult sales, and Jessica Ko also moves up to director, national accounts, including overseeing the Walmart adult sales team. Both report to Tom Cox. As part of a realignment of PRH’s international sales team, which includes naming three new vice presidents, regional sales director for Asia Akiko Iwamoto and senior director, international marketing and imprint sales Tony Lutkus will leave the company later this month. Laurel Christensen Day will take over as president of Deseret Book Co., replacing Jeff Simpson, who leaves in June to serve a three-year […]
Gendell Files Counterclaims Against McGuigan, Alleging Defamation Along with “Inattentiveness, Incompetence” and “Unprofessional and Abusive Behavior”
Yfat Reiss Gendell denied the charges made against against her by former Foundry partner Peter McGuigan in his January lawsuit and filed counterclaims of her own, alleging defamation, tortious interference with agents and deals at her firm YRG Partners, breach of contract and more. The filing accuses McGuigan of “years of inattentiveness, incompetence, as well as unprofessional and abusive behavior,” and charges him with creating and spreading “a defamatory smear campaign” designed “to falsely justify his own foolish actions” in freezing both the client and operating accounts of Foundry. In her counterclaims, Gendell seeks damages for reputational harm, lost business […]
Class-Action Law Firm Tries Suing Amazon and Publishers Over the Site’s Dominance In Online Bookselling
Hagens Berman (joined by another firm, Sperling & Slater) filed a second lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Amazon and the five largest trade publishers, this time seeking class-action status on behalf of booksellers, alleging that Amazon has monopolized the online book market and that somehow the big publishers colluded to ensure that Amazon beats them up on terms, all for the sake of controlling their wholesale prices (which they are allowed to do). In January, Hagens Berman had sued Amazon — and then the five largest trade publishers — over Amazon’s monopoly control of the ebook […]
Digital Briefs: Costco Audiobooks, AAP Opposes Library eBook Legislation
Costco started selling value-priced collections of digital audiobooks recently, playable through their own audiobooks app. For now they offer approximately 175 different collections to members. As Maryland (and other states) considers legislation that would require ebook publishers to also “license the book to public libraries in the state on reasonable terms,” the AAP explains in opposition that such state laws are invalid. “Federal copyright law prohibits this type of regulation of copyrights by state governments,” the organization writes. And such legislation also “raises significant Commerce Clause and Due Process Clause concerns and would likely be found to violate the U.S. […]