Jones v Abel Cross-Complaints - Messy Facts

I took a quick look at the Wayfarer and Abel cross-complaints against Jonesworks this morning. Generally, Jen Abel’s complaint looks like an ugly employment break-up dispute, plead in Freedman’s usual, PR-based style. Wayfarer has an interesting argument that Jonesworks was still their PR firm, and so Jones releasing texts of its executives violated contractual confidentiality provisions in the contract between Jonesworks and Wayfarer. Jen Abel will fight to have California employment law apply and to get aspects of her Employment Agreement tossed out (non-compete) - she has a good case on those grounds.

There is, however, a real timeline mystery arising from all of these Freedman pleadings. In the Exhibit A timeline, Freedman includes an email dated August 6, 2024, talking about how Abel has resigned from Jonesworks two weeks prior (perhaps agreeing to stay and finish some projects). But in Abel’s new complaint, there are facts plead that Abel was terminated “by surprise” and asked to handover her phone and laptop without prior notice, all on August 21, 2024. A good portion of the alleged smear campaign was planned and began in that two week time period.

The new complaints also include an email from Stephanie Jones to Jamey Heath noting that Able had been removed from the Wayfarer account on August 9th. So we might be gearing up for an argument that Abel was acting in contrary direction to Jones’s express instructions - this provides both grounds for her immediate termination and a disclaimer of liability for what Abel was doing between August 9 and August 21.

It will be interesting to watch these ladies fight it out. However the Lively’s received the Abel texts, I still think those were Jonesworks property on a device owned and paid for by them, and Jones could send them to whomever she wanted to (noting her confidentiality provisions running to her clients, including Wayfarer.)