Hands off our models!
Ford Models has filed a $4 million anti-poaching lawsuit against competitor Men Women NY Model Management, alleging the brazen theft of two of its top models.
“Women,” as the agency is commonly known, knew full well that cat walkers Alana Zimmer and Karolina Waz were contractually bound to Ford when it lured them to jump ship, the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit alleges.
Where will the poaching end, Ford’s suit complains.
“Women has thus shown that it acts brazenly, going after models whose careers have been cultivated by Ford,” the lawsuit reads.
Women’s “pattern of harm” in swiping Zimmer and Waz “carries the continued threat of more misconduct,” Ford frets.
“There are, upon information and belief, other models whom Women is seeking to seize from Ford,” the suit alleges.
Adding insult to alleged injury, Ford claims it only found out about its two poached pretties by reading about it in press accounts — and Women’s own tweets.
The suit seeks $2 million in damages from Women, and $1 million each from Zimmer and Waz.
Zimmer has appeared in Harper’s, Vogue, and other magazines, and has stalked runways for dozens of top labels. The comely Canadian was in the midst of a three-year exclusive U.S. contract with Ford when she signed with Women, the suit alleges.
We made her, Ford brags.
“Ford’s determined efforts are responsible for moving her to the brink of superstardom,” their suit says.
Waz — a pretty Pole who the suit said has walked high end Fashion Week runways in the US and Europe — was still bound by a three-year exclusive management contract with Ford covering all her work in the U.S. and Canada, the suit alleges.
Attorneys for Women and Ford could not immediately be reached for comment.
In a bit of vice-versa irony, Women sued Ford for poaching two years ago.
Ford had obtained confidential information about Women’s personnel and finances in 2007, as part of Ford’s ultimately failed 2008 bid to purchase Women.
Women’s Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit alleged that Ford used that confidential information in poaching its top execs and trying to poach its models; the bulk of the suit was dismissed in August, 2011, the remainder of the suit was later settled privately.