Some new details have been released regarding the lawsuit filed against World Wrestling Entertainment by Joe/Jody Hamilton and Deep South Wrestling in the State of Georgia claiming that WWE breached their contract with DSW reports PWInsider.
Hamilton claims he and DSW were “fully comppliant” with their contract agreement with WWE where the partnership saw Hamilton paid a salary of $80,000, while DSW as a company was paid $80,000 to provide developmental training. The counter to this argument was that there were many allegations of bullying by trainers of WWE developmental talents which got so bad that filming of the training sessions was required by WWE. Injuries were also said to be common among training sessions as well and the morale among talent was described as being very bad.
Hamilton is claiming in the suit that he set up a series of live DSW events to take place at the Six Flags park in Georgia and also set up additional events that would have benefited The American Cancer Society and M.A.A.D.A. for the summer of 2007. Hamilton also arranged for WWE to send talents to each of those live shows as well. According to the suit, Hamilton claims WWE planned to sever the relationship and acted as if nothing was wrong by arranging talent for the Six Flags event. Then several days before Six Flags event, WWE officials (believed to be John Laurinaitis and Mike Bucci although they are not named) arrived on April 18, 2007 to inform Hamilton that WWE was ending their agreement with DSW.
Hamilton is claiming that DSW’s deal with WWE required the company to provide DSW and himself with at least 90 days notice that the deal was ending, which didn’t happen. He is also stating that WWE “arranged through an intentional and calculated method” to time the arrival of their officials at DSW’s place of business without giving notice to Hamilton beforehand and that the company did everything in their power to prevent him from knowing they would be arriving as the alleged plan was for them to “remove all personal and computer information” without anyone from DSW being present. The lawsuit further adds that WWE removed “wrestling rings, seating, computer hardware, software, and information belonging to DSW” and that “shared personnel” were informed they would be transferred and have no further business dealings with Hamilton and DSW.
Hamilton’s suit added that WWE’s decision prevented DSW from performing on the scheduled events that summer causing liability damages in the amount of $320,000 and Hamilton personal damages estimated at $56,000. Hamilton also is claiming he suffered from emotional distress due to the situation and that WWE ‘s “intentional actions were intended to cause Hamilton severe emotional distress.” The lawsuit requests that Hamilton personally and DSW recover all damages arising from WWE’s alleged breach of contract and that Hamilton recover damages arising from “Defendants willful and intentional infliction of emotional distress” as well as any punitive damages ruled by a jury.”