“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, Alabama, 16 April 1963, in Atlantic Monthly August 1963

I had wanted to post a tribute to Dr. King here early on Monday.  However, after posting the Emory conference announcement, I moved on to other work, and that work filled up the available time in the day.  So, this late post including the quote above will have to suffice.

As I read meaningful quotes from Dr. King on social media and elsewhere all day on Monday, I found myself thinking of examples of inequality and injustice.  Many are compelling; many are meaningful.  Some are current events; and some of those involve business law questions.

For a number of days now (since before MLK Day) we have been showered with news stories relating to the compensation disparity between Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams for reshooting scenes from All the Money in the World in the wake of Kevin Spacey’s replacement in the film resulting from allegations of sexual misconduct.  (See here, among other places.)  Most folks who follow Hollywood business issues know that gender discrimination is common.  My sister, a visual effects producer (her current movie is Downsizing, which I enjoyed and recommend), has suffered the effects.

But I found myself focusing on the role of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment LLC (WME), the talent agency that represented both Wahlberg and Williams.  Talent agents are regulated by guilds and unions as well as under California law (as represented here).  But they also have fiduciary duties.  Why did Wahlberg’s contract not include a reshoot covenant (giving him the leverage to negotiate an outsized reshoot fee) while Williams’s contract did?  Did WME fail to act in a manner consistent with any applicable duty of care–or maybe loyalty–as an experienced agent representing both actors–with knowledge of an overall gender pay gap?  Of course, there are many other possible explanations for the difference, and we are not privy to the terms of the two actors’ talent contracts with WME (including any enforceable private ordering around agency law rules or confidentiality or privacy clauses).  But the related questions seem worth asking.  

Specifically, we might ask whether there is a question of WME’s care, competence, or diligence under Section 8.08 of the Restatement (Third) of Agency.  And, among other things, Section 8.11 of the Restatement (Third) of Agency imposes a duty of candor on agents that may be applicable here.  And were there differences in the benefits that WME got out of each agreement that may have affected the firm’s ability to act loyally for the principal’s benefit under Section 8.01 of the Restatement (Third) of Agency?  We may never know.

Intermediation likely cannot cure the evils of inequality and injustice.  But where intermediaries are agents or otherwise owe fiduciary duties to their clients, those fiduciary duties may cause–or at least incentivize–the intermediaries to use their experience and knowledge to correct gender, racial, and other inequities where they exist.  This is something I will continue to ponder.