Court Affirms Hay, LA Direct Violated CA Talent Agencies Act

LOS ANGELES—An L.A. County civil judge on Tuesday granted a summary judgment on five causes of action against former talent agent Derek Hay, affirming that he violated the California labor code and Talent Agencies Act. Five actresses involved in the case originally accused Hay and his agency LA Direct Models of labor code violations in 2018, filing a complaint with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. The performers were initially anonymous “Jane Does” in filing but were later revealed to be Charlotte Cross, Sofi Ryan, Andi Rye, Hadley Viscara, and Shay Evans.  In her ruling this week, LA County Superior Court Judge Gail Killefer wrote that, "Based on this evidence ... [Hay] sent them or caused them to be sent on assignments where their health, safety, and welfare could have been adversely affected." The court further affirmed that Hay and his agency used unapproved contracts, charged unapproved fees, operated with flagrant conflicts of interest and breached his fiduciary duty as a licensed talent agent. The judge denied two other causes of action. Attorney Allan Gelbard, who is representing the five actresses, indicated that all contracts entered between the impacted class of performers and Hay's operation were void, the fees were found unlawful, and all LA Direct's revenues were ordered to be disgorged. ”Yesterday, after six years of litigation, Judge Killefer granted my clients’ Motion for Summary Adjudication as to five of the seven requested causes of action in Derek Hay’s appeal of our victory in the Labor Commission," Gelbard told AVN in an email.  "As all the remedies we were seeking have been obtained, as Mr. Hay is now a convicted felon and as Direct Models no longer has a California Talent Agency license, we will likely dismiss the rest of our complaint, enter a request for a final judgment, and a petition for my clients to recover their attorney’s fees and costs, both under the cost-shifting provisions of the Talent Agencies Act and because Direct Models denied numerous facts we requested they admit in our written discovery which we subsequently proved were true.” Hay’s attorney Richard Freeman told AVN that he and Hay "are awaiting ... to determine next steps." "We are looking forward to trial on the remaining issues ... next year," Freeman added. In late May, Hay pleaded guilty to two felony counts of perjury and conspiracy to commit pandering as part of a plea agreement in the case against him and the two co-defendants originally brought in 2020 by then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.  A total of 12 felony counts were initially filed against Hay and his co-defendants, but current California AG Rob Bonta secured a new grand jury indictment in September of 2022 that brought more charges, including counts of pimping, pandering, conspiracy, money laundering and perjury. He was arraigned on the grand jury indictment in March 2023.  Hay on Aug. 2 was sentenced to 270 days in jail and two years of formal probation, as outlined in his plea deal with prosecutors. Freeman confirmed to AVN that further hearings on the performers' claims of restitution was set for February 7, 2025.