LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — CAA has dropped sports agent Matthew Baldwin after only a month while the ink on the lawsuit sparked by his hiring hasn't even dried. While CAA confirmed that Baldwin had been released, they declined to comment on the reasons he had been let go.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Baldwin abruptly departed IMG's coaches division last month to join CAA. Upon leaving, Baldwin took up residency in California, and filed a lawsuit there, seeking to nullify his non-compete clause in his contract with IMG. California does not legally recognize non-compete clauses.
IMG responded by filing a lawsuit in Ohio against Baldwin, seeking to enforce the non-compete agreement and asked a California judge to dismiss Baldwin's case or change its venue to Ohio. In the suit, IMG accused Baldwin of both poaching clients and taking at least 7,000 confidential files on an IMG-owned computer and flash drive which detailed sensitive information about IMG clients.
According to the Journal, Baldwin testified in court that most of the files were personal and that he had returned the equipment in question, however IMG's lawyers say they intend to pursue the case to ascertain if anyone at CAA viewed the files.
"IMG has said from the beginning we are going to protect our clients' confidences," Mark Holscher, a lawyer for IMG told the WSJ. "They can't use our confidential files and he has to live up to his agreement." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
