Latham Litigation Team Successfully Defends Endeavor Against Unsolicited Submission Claim

A Southern California-based Latham litigation team secured a significant win on summary judgment for global sports and entertainment company Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. in a dispute with a plaintiff claiming to be responsible for the key ideas underpinning Endeavor’s US$10 billion initial public offering.

Plaintiff David Carde filed the case in March 2022 claiming he was the brains behind Endeavor’s 2021 IPO. His case was immediately reported widely in the industry press for both its novel twist on the “implied contract by unsolicited email” theory and its sensationalized complaint.

Carde claimed he sent an “analysis” of Endeavor’s financial position shortly before, and shortly after, its initial withdrawn IPO, to an Endeavor executive and to a WME executive. Carde claimed Endeavor stole his idea that Endeavor’s “platform drives its network effects” — a concept that in fact had been embedded in Endeavor’s corporate messaging since at least 2015 — and that he thus deserved to share in Endeavor’s profits.

In August 2022, Latham succeeded in having plaintiff’s unjust enrichment claim and demand for punitive damages thrown out on demurrer. And on December 12, 2023, after almost two years of discovery exposing plaintiff’s lack of evidence, the court granted summary judgment in favor of Endeavor on plaintiff’s remaining claim for breach of implied contract. As Latham partner Jessica Stebbins Bina argued at the hearing, “plaintiffs have come back with nothing but speculation as to what they think could possibly have happened offline, and that's simply not enough to create a contract here, a bilateral contract, with a mutual expectation of payment.” The Court agreed, finding no contract of any kind was created by plaintiff’s unsolicited submission. This precedent-setting win is significant given the recent trend of lawsuits claiming idea theft based on unsolicited submissions related to IPOs, mergers, and acquisitions. 

The litigation team was led by partners Jessica Stebbins Bina, Michele Johnson, and Marvin Putnam with associates Greg Swartz and Tatum Rosenfeld.