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Tuesday, November 7, 2006
11/8: Larry countersues (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not surprisingly, Regular Guys’ Larry Wachs is countersuing Juan “Yogi” Tapia & Jose “Panda” Carias, as well as Clear Channel. Wachs seeks damages, declaratory judgment, injunctive relief and recovery of his costs and attorneys’ fees. He’s using an employment lawyer Andy Head to help with this case along with George Stein.
Causes of action: Tortious interference with contract (against Tapia and Carias) and with business relations. He said they “acted with malice and with intent to injure in interfering with Wachs. He accused them of “malicious prosecution” for initiating criminal prosecution for his taping of their restroom conversation on Oct. 9, then airing it Oct. 10 on 96rock. He said he has “suffered damage to his reputation, as well as money damages as a result of Tapia and Carias’ malicious prosecution.”
Other counts includfed civil conspiracy (against Tapia and Carias), attorneys’ fees and costs and breach of contract.
In a “declaratory judgment (against Clear Channel),” he said the non-compete covenant in his contract is “unenforceable” because it includes a provision in which Clear Channel could try to stop him from working on the radio here indefinitely. Although his contract noted that there’s only a 90 day period after he was fired October 23 in which he can’t pursue employment on air in Atlanta, it is subject to “indefinite tolling without durational limitation.”
Wachs notes in the lawsuit that he “is uncertain of his rights concerning subsequent employment and desires an early adjudication of those rights by declaratory judgment.” He notes that “because Wachs is an on-air personality, time is of the essence in obtaining subsequent employment in order to maintain name recognition, listener interest and loyalty, and the goodwill accumulated by the individual on-air talent.”
Jamie Hernan, who represents Tapia and Carias, was none too happy when he heard the news.
“He humiliates them and they get sued? Give me a jury!” Hernan said. To him, the case sounds more directed at Clear Channel, not his clients. “He didn’t need to sue Yogi & Panda. That’s outrageous!” He said Yogi & Panda have tried to resolve this amicably but “we’re shocked by the other side’s desire to keep this going.” (They withdrew the civil case to keep the criminal case alive.)
Here’s the lawsuit case info:
Lawrence Wachs v. Juan Tapia; Jose Carias; Clear Channel Broadcasting Inc. 11/3/2006 06cv125255 CLS Contract/account complaint. C. Head
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11/7: Hottest radio formats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
According to arbitron format tracking, Spanish is the fastest growing format, up to 11.1 percent of total share from 10.1 share a year ago. Urban is up slightly from 10.2 to 10.4 year over year. Rock is down to 7.7 from 8.7 (though it’s far higher in Atlanta thanks to the arrival of the River). Oldies (which doesn’t exist among Atlanta’s metro-wide FM signals) is down to 6 percent from 6.3. News/talk dropped from 17.4 to 16.9. Country is up 9.1 to 9.3. Top 40 is about the same: 11.6 from 11.5. Alternative rock drops to 3.5 from 3.8. Adult contemporary is down from 12.9 to 12.7.
