Eric J. Amdursky

Amdursky is managing partner of O’Melveny’s Silicon Valley shop, where he said he considers himself a businessman as well as a lawyer. He handles claims of trade secret misappropriation, breach of non-competition and non-solicitation covenants, breach of fiduciary duty, sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation, and executive compensation disputes and disputes arising from mergers, acquisitions and venture capital partnership agreements.

Clients include Yahoo Inc., Broadcom Corp., Zynga Inc. and Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Co. For Broadcom, Amdursky filed suit against two former executives and their new startup alleging trade secret misappropriation and other claims. In April 2016, the case settled for a confidential amount. Broadcom Corp. v. Innovium Inc., 115-cv-275785 (Santa Clara Super. Ct., filed Jan. 20, 2015).

But it’s the Tinseltown cases that get the ink.

“Papers such as The Hollywood Reporter like stories about chief executives in the entertainment industry,” Amdursky said, explaining why some of his cases gain media notoriety while other remain largely under the public radar.

When a former senior vice president for sales and marketing at Starz Entertainment LLC, Keno V. Thomas, alleged he was fired in retaliation for complaining about race and gender discrimination, Amdursky became the cable network’s lead defense counsel. The plaintiff claimed the firing was due to his refusal to approve revenue objectives that he believed were unrealistic and for questioning the negotiation tactics of Starz’ chairman in connection with the renewal of a cable television contract.

As Amdursky said, The Hollywood Reporter headlined what it called Thomas’ “scorching lawsuit” and repeated Thomas’ gaudy claims in the complaint that Starz CEO Chris Albrecht once ordered aides to respond so aggressively to a competitor that when the rival’s general counsel saw the pushback his “balls would shrivel back into his little ‘girly-man’ body.”

Despite the hullabaloo, Amdursky removed the case to federal court in Los Angeles and moved to dismiss. U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder granted the motion but twice allowed Thomas to amend his complaint. Snyder heard Amdursky’s third try at dismissal last September and granted it in part and denied it in part. The judge trimmed away part of the case and Thomas withdrew allegations against Albrecht personally, but claims over revenue inflation and false subscriber figures are proceeding. Discovery is currently underway with a jury trial scheduled for March 2018. Thomas v. Starz Entertainment LLC, 2:15-cv-09239 (C.D. Cal., filed Nov. 30, 2015).

“It can be a very exciting practice,” Amdursky said.

— John Roemer