A marketing company is taking Kevin Hart to court for $1.8 million over claims the comic failed to pay them a commission.
The filing for breach of contract from iGo Marketing & Entertainment was obtained by The Blast Tuesday, Oct. 9. In it, the company said it had a deal with Hart to negotiate marketing and celebrity tie-in deals for him. Among the deals iGo has nabbed on Hart’s behalf are those from beverage companies Vitamin Water, Coke Zero and video game company Electronic Arts. The company has also landed two deals with Caesars Entertainment and one with Verizon Wireless.
With all the deals they helped negotiate, the stipulation was that iGo would get 15 percent of the pay. According to the company, that was always followed up until 2015, when iGo aided with talks for a three-year deal with Rally Healthcare.
iGo, which has counts Jamie Foxx and John Legend among its clients, claims it negotiated an agreement with Rally that would see Hart get paid partly in cash and partly in stock options. Hart ended the deal with iGo in 2015, but the company says that didn’t absolve him from paying the commission on deals they secured. iGo alleges Hart failed to pay them their owed 15 percent on the third-year option of the deal or the cost of the stock option.
In a response to the suit, Hart said there was never any written agreement with iGo. And since the third-year option to the Rally deal came after he split with iGo, he claims didn’t need to pay them 15 percent of the earnings.
The comic has also filed a countersuit against iGo, claiming they used his name and likeness for marketing on their website without his permission.
The “Night School” star wants iGo’s suit to be dismissed and is requesting unspecified damages for the use of his image in the ongoing case. Additionally, Hart seeks an injunction against his former business partner to prevent him from continuing to use his name and likeness to market the company.