## Facts

- Howard Wolf, an unlicensed personal manager, entered a series of one-year management contracts with recording artist Paul Robi from 1983 to 1988, providing advice and counseling services for a commission.
- During a contract term in 1986, Robi entered a recording agreement with Jango Records for a Platters album; the album was recorded but not released during Robi’s lifetime.
- After Robi’s death, his widow, Martha Robi, authorized posthumous release and exploitation of the recordings.
- Wolf sought commissions based on the management contracts, relying substantially on the Jango recording project and subsequent exploitation.
- Evidence showed Wolf contacted venues and promoters and negotiated or attempted to negotiate live performance engagements for Robi and The Platters; he also assisted in arranging the Jango recording engagement.
- Martha Robi invoked the California Talent Agencies Act (TAA) before the Labor Commissioner, asserting Wolf unlawfully procured employment (live engagements) without a talent agency license.
- The Labor Commissioner found the management contracts void under the TAA for unlicensed procurement.
- A trial de novo in superior court (consolidated with Wolf’s civil action) resulted in findings that Wolf procured performance engagements without a license, rendering the contracts void and barring any commission recovery, including for the recording transaction.
- Wolf entered bankruptcy and his trustee, Timothy J. Yoo, was substituted as plaintiff and appealed; Martha Robi cross-appealed on procedure.

## Issues

1. Whether substantial evidence supported that Wolf procured or attempted to procure live performance engagements without a license, thereby voiding the management contracts under the TAA and barring commissions, including commissions tied to an exempt recording contract.
2. Whether a de novo appeal from a Labor Commissioner TAA determination must be filed as a separate superior court action or may be pursued within an existing action between the same parties involving the same controversy.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the superior court judgment for Martha Robi and rejected both the appeal and cross-appeal.
- Substantial evidence supported the finding that Wolf engaged in unlicensed procurement of live performance engagements covered by the TAA.
- The TAA violation rendered the management contracts void and barred recovery of any commissions, including commissions connected to the recording contract.
- A de novo appeal under Labor Code § 1700.44 may be brought either as a separate action or within a pending action between the parties concerning the same dispute.

## Legal Principles

- Under the TAA, a person who, for compensation, procures or attempts to procure employment or engagements for an artist must be licensed; unlicensed procurement of live engagements violates the Act.
- Management contracts used to perform unlicensed procurement are void under the TAA, and the unlicensed representative may not recover commissions under those contracts.
- A representative barred due to unlicensed procurement may not recover commissions even for transactions that are themselves exempt from the TAA’s licensing requirement (such as procurement of recording contracts), where the overall contractual relationship is void.
- Labor Code § 1700.44 de novo review of a Labor Commissioner determination may proceed within an existing superior court action involving the same parties and controversy; a separate lawsuit is not required.

## Conclusion

The court enforced the TAA strictly by voiding a personal manager’s contracts and denying all commissions after finding unlicensed procurement of live performance engagements, and it held that de novo review of a Labor Commissioner TAA decision may be pursued within an already pending superior court action between the parties.


Yoo v. Robi, 126 Cal. App. 4th 1089 (Cal. Ct. App. 2005)