CAA-Range legal saga could reshape Hollywood

The arbitration between CAA and four former agents who formed Range Media Partners has become the town’s dominant legal story. Jack Whigham, Dave Bugliari, Michael Cooper and Mick Sullivan left CAA six years ago; two years after launching Range they initiated arbitration after their CAA equity was stripped.

CAA principals Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane and Richard Lovett have appealed the ruling. A three-judge panel issued a decision last month that ordered CAA to pay $36 million for the stripped equity and to cover Range’s legal fees, roughly $6 million. Subject to appeal, that leaves CAA on the hook for well over $40 million, not counting the agency’s own legal fees, which have been pegged at about $10 million to $15 million.

The panel also required the $36 million to be paid in cash rather than by reinstating equity, reviving resentment over liquidity limits imposed after Artémis’s 2023 acquisition that valued CAA at $7 billion.

caa, range media, arbitration, equity stripped, bryan lourd, kevin huvane, richard lovett, 36 million, legal fees, artémis acquisition