Snoop Dogg Sues Pabst For $70 Millions Over Endorsement

Snoop Dogg sued Pabst brewery , claiming it owes him 10 percent of the $700 million sale of the company attributable to its Colt 45 brands, which he endorsed.

Rap star Calvin Broadus Jr (aka Snoop Dogg). and his loan-out company Spanky's Clothing sued Pabst Brewing Company, Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings and New Owner Does, in Superior Court.

He claims he revitalized the Colt 45 brand in January 2011 in a 3-year consulting agreement that gave him an up-front fee of $250,000 and eight quarterly payments of $62,500, plus appearance and sales fees. His endorsement included Blast by Colt 45, a fruit-flavored alcohol drink.

Broadus says the agreement contained a "Phantom Equity Clause," stating that if Blast by Colt 45 or the entire Colt 45 brand family was sold within 2 years after the end of his 3-year term, he was to "receive 10% of the net sales price of such sale."

He says the only exception to the clause was if Colt 45 were sold to a Pabst affiliate.

C. Dean Metropoulos and his private equity firm bought Pabst for about $250 million in May 2010, according to the complaint. That company made the deal with Broadus and Spanky's.

In September 2014, Metropoulos agreed to sell Pabst, and its Colt 45 brands, to Eugene Kashper, with private equity funding provided by TSG Consumer Partners, for "a reported $700 million," according to the complaint.

Broadus says the sale closed in November, well within the 2 years covered by the Phantom Equity Clause.

Now, he says, "Pabst has taken the (very convenient) position that no transaction has occurred such that Subsection (a) of the Phantom Equity Clause would be triggered." (Parentheses in complaint.)

Broadus says that without the Phantom Equity Clause he would have demanded more money up front and for 3 years. He seeks unspecified damages for breach of contract, breach of faith, conversion and intentional interference with contract.

e is represented by Alex Weingarten with the Venable law firm. His 16-page endorsement contract is attached as an exhibit to the complaint. Neither Kashper, Metropoulos nor TSG Consumer Partners are named as parties to the lawsuit.

via Courthhouse News

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