Members of Mötley Crüe have joined Steven Tyler in formally protesting the legal machinations of their once-shared management company, Kovac Media Group. The drama began back in October when boss man Allen Kovac sued Tyler’s lawyer, Dina LaPolt, for allegedly botching his contract to continue on as an American Idol judge. As the Hollywood Reporter explains, the plaintiff claims that LaPolt “poisoned” the deal so badly producers refused to offer Tyler a raise entering his third season with the show. Kovac is seeking damages in excess of $8 million and has also accused the attorney of convincing Tyler to fire Kovac (which Tyler did) and withhold commission due Kovac owed from his Idol severance package.
As if the plot weren’t already thick enough, Tommy Lee and Mick Mars are now involved as Kovac has added new claims to his filing. His people allege that as a result of the October suit, LaPolt has been “conspiring” to “set up a competing management company” that would steal the Crüe, who she also represents, from the Kovac roster. While there’s nothing to stop a free agent from pursuing other people’s clients, the Kovac crew claim that LaPolt had essentially been acting as legal representation for Kovac, and that she “committed one of the most egregious acts that a lawyer can commit” and “disclosed attorney-client information” in order not only to profit, but to exact revenge upon Kovac.
While the initial lawsuit’s claims would suggest that Tyler should be unhappy with LaPolt’s services, he has backed her by statement: “It is an understatement to say that I was very unhappy with the services and conduct of Allen Kovac. Among other things, he was disrespectful and rude to my business associates, insulted and verbally abused my fiancee, my lawyer, my family, my assistants and my accountants.” Lee and Mars have added their two cents to papers filed by LaPolt urging a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to throw out the case. Both were blindsided by the news that their manager was suing their lawyer, with Mars adding, “I trust Dina implicitly, to the point that she is my trustee if I die or become disabled.”
LaPolt is pursing a dismissal via anti-SLAAP legislation, which would protect her First Amendment rights to advise her clients as she so chooses. Also, Mars pointed to some seemingly shady business that has soured his band’s relationship with Kovac independent of anything LaPolt-related. Mere hours after he learned that Mötley Crüe was now caught up in this whole thing, he discovered that the group’s business manager, Pam Malek, who serves the same role for one of Kovac’s companies, has just okayed a $200,000 payment to Allen Kovac from the Crüe supposedly to pay back a personal loan the head manager had given Mötley singer Vince Neil, who is not a shareholder in the band. Mars had never approved this.
MC to Kovacs:
