Kevin Hart’s company just lost its bid to keep a legal fight private. A judge has rejected Hartbeat’s attempt to move the lawsuit into private arbitration, keeping the legal fight in public court.
A comedian’s production company wanted this dispute settled behind closed doors. The judge disagreed, and the reason he gave undercuts the paperwork the company was counting on.
Hartbeat lost its attempt to move its legal dispute with Eric Eddings and Lesley Gwam out of the public court system
Kevin Hart’s production company will have to fight its former employees in open court. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected Hartbeat’s bid to send the case into private arbitration, according to documents obtained by TMZ.
The ruling turned on the paperwork itself. Both Eric Eddings and Lesley Gwam had signed agreements containing arbitration provisions, and the court acknowledged as much. However, the judge found the pair made a “persuasive showing” that those provisions were unconscionable and could not be enforced against them.
That decision keeps the Kevin Hart lawsuit on the public record, which is the opposite of what his company wanted.
Hartbeat brought the case against Eddings, who joined in 2022, and Gwam, who came aboard in 2023. The lawsuit alleged that the two gathered confidential material about Hartbeat’s podcast division, then used it to launch a competing podcast business of their own.
The complaint further alleged that they built a pitch deck using the information and used it to pursue millions in funding. His suit sought an injunction to block the new venture from getting off the ground.
Both former employees have pushed back on the whole premise. They denied relying on anything they picked up at Hartbeat and noted that they had both worked in the industry before landing there.
The Hartbeat arbitration ruling does not resolve any of those claims. It settles only where the fight happens, and the answer now is in front of the public.
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