The talent agency that's locked in a legal battle with the organizer of the embattled Harvest Picnic festival is pushing to be removed from a multimillion-dollar lawsuit that was launched last fall.

Both The Feldman Agency (which represents several artists who weren't paid from the last Harvest Picnic) and organizer Jean-Paul Gauthier (who owns September Seventh Entertainment, which runs the festival) appeared in court in late December.

According to a record of the proceedings reviewed by CBC News, lawyers for Feldman brought forward a motion asking that the agency itself and musician Jann Arden be removed outright from the $27 million lawsuit Gauthier launched. The crux of their argument is that provisions in the contracts protect Feldman from being sued in situations like these, and that Arden can't be sued because she had to pull out due to illness.

"This is not David versus Goliath," Feldman's lawyer Brian Shiller said in court.

"[Gauthier] comes to court and says 'I like some contractual provisions, but I don't like others. And the ones I don't like, they're unfair — but provides no evidence to how they're unfair."

The process has been very difficult for me. - Jean-Paul Gauthier, festival organizer

To call the situation messy would be an understatement. Gauthier is suing Feldman, Arden, country star Johnny Reid, alternative country band Cowboy Junkies, and others, alleging they essentially torpedoed that last iteration of the festival by pulling out of the show due to illness (in Arden's case) or violating radius clauses (in the case of the others).

A radius clause is an agreement in a band's contract that dictates they not play another show within a certain distance of the venue close to the same date, to maximize crowd size. Arden played a Christmas show in Toronto, while Reid played a song the Canadian Country Music Awards.

Reid is also countersuing Gauthier, seeking tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees after playing last summer's festival. Reid is just one of several artists who weren't paid for performing.

Country star Johnny Reid is seeking thousands of dollars in damages from the company that organizes Hamilton's The Harvest Picnic. (The Canadian Press)

In court, Shiller argued that both Feldman and Arden should be removed from the original lawsuit before it even goes to trial, thanks to provisions outlined in their original contracts.

"People are entitled to limit claims against them when they contract," he said. "If the plaintiff doesn't like it, he doesn't have to contract."

Gauthier (who is representing himself) said in court that the defendants named in his lawsuit breached their radius clauses "feeling safe" that other clauses in their contracts would protect them.

"None of the defendants should be released at this time, or at any time prior to trial," Gauthier said.

"The process has been very difficult for me," he said. In court documents, Gauthier has said that both the Harvest Picnic and the Hamilton Music Awards (which September Seventh also produces) are at great risk of folding.

Justice Alan Whitten said in court that he expects to make a decision about whether or not Feldman and Arden will be dropped from the lawsuit by the end of January.

adam.carter@cbc.ca