## Facts

- Marathon Entertainment, Inc., a personal management company, and actress Rosa Blasi entered into an oral personal management agreement providing Marathon a commission (initially 15%) on Blasi’s entertainment earnings.
- Marathon provided career guidance and coordination typically associated with personal managers and also attempted to procure employment for Blasi, including efforts connected to the series *Strong Medicine*.
- After Blasi obtained a lead role on *Strong Medicine*, she reduced Marathon’s commission to 10% and later stopped paying commissions, stating her agent would perform management functions.
- Marathon sued Blasi for breach of contract and related claims seeking unpaid commissions, including commissions tied to *Strong Medicine*.
- Blasi invoked the Talent Agencies Act (Lab. Code § 1700 et seq.), sought a stay of the civil action, and petitioned the Labor Commissioner, alleging Marathon had procured employment without the required license.
- The Labor Commissioner found Marathon engaged in unlicensed solicitation and procurement, declared the management agreement void from inception, and denied Marathon recovery.

## Issues

1. Whether the Talent Agencies Act applies to personal managers who procure or attempt to procure employment for artists.
2. Whether any unlicensed procurement under the Act automatically voids the entire management contract, or whether severability may allow recovery for lawful, non-procurement services.

## Decision

- The California Supreme Court held the Talent Agencies Act applies based on conduct; personal managers fall within the Act when they procure or attempt to procure employment.
- The Court held the Act does not categorically preclude severability; courts and the Labor Commissioner may partially enforce an agreement and permit recovery for lawful services consistent with contract principles and the Act’s protective purpose.
- The Court affirmed in part and reversed in part and remanded for a fact-specific severability analysis.

## Legal Principles

- The Talent Agencies Act regulates the act of procuring or attempting to procure employment for artists, regardless of whether the person calls themselves a “manager” or “agent.”
- Because the Act does not specify a private-contract forfeiture remedy, general California contract illegality rules govern remedies, including severability.
- A contract is unenforceable as a whole when illegality infects its central purpose; if illegality is collateral and can be separated, lawful portions may be enforced.
- In Talent Agencies Act disputes, decisionmakers must evaluate the parties’ objectives, the relative importance of illegal versus legal performance, and whether severance aligns with the Act’s artist-protection purpose.

## Conclusion

The court held that personal managers who procure work must comply with the Talent Agencies Act’s licensing requirements, but a manager’s unlicensed procurement does not automatically eliminate all contractual recovery; instead, severability may permit compensation for lawful management services depending on the facts and the contract’s primary purpose.


Marathon Ent. , Inc. v. Blasi, 42 Cal. 4th 974 (2008)