KHIKS partners Michael Kump and Greg Korn successfully represented defendant Courtside LLC in an antitrust action filed in federal court in Los Angeles. Courtside produces and finances multi-platform, quality programming and is the radio home for high-profile personalities, including Laura Ingraham and Bill O’Reilly.
This action filed by independent producers of news and talk radio programs concerned the production and syndication of “spoken word” radio programming. Plaintiffs alleged that lead defendant Dial Global, Inc. and its affiliates monopolized certain markets in the radio programming industry and used those monopolies as leverage to breach contract and fiduciary obligations owed to Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also alleged that Courtside intentionally interfered with Plaintiffs’ contracts with certain radio personalities, as part of this alleged antitrust conspiracy.
KHIKS filed a motion to dismiss the tort claims against Courtside on the ground that the federal court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ state law claims. On May 6, 2013, United States District Judge Jesus Bernal granted KHIKS’s motion, and dismissed all claims against defendant Courtside. (See The Original Talk Radio Network, Inc., et al. v. Dial Global, Inc., et al., USDC Case No. CV 12-7370-JGB.)
