July 9, 2007

I impersonated a reporter Monday. I drove to Chatsworth Superior Court to dig up the Tim Connelly Vs. AVN, Paul Fishbein file and get a photocopy of the 27-page complaint, originally filed October 18, 2006.

Next on the agenda for this lawsuit is depositions (Paul Fishbein, Tim Connelly principally). There's mandatory mediation in September. The trial is scheduled for January 2008.

I looked through Connelly's ten page contracts (employment and consulting) with AVN.  His employment contract called for $30,000 a year salary in 2003, bumped up to $35,000 a year beginning May 1, 2004 and up again to $40,000 a year starting May 1, 2005.

Tim also got a $1,000 a month car allowance. All work-related miles over 12,000 a year would be paid at the rate of 30c a mile.

Connelly got a two week vacation, a $1 million life insurance policy and $2,000 relocation expenses (did not have to be itemized).

His consulting deal paid out $170,000 for the first year, $187,000 for the second year and $205,700 the third year. He was eligible for bonuses to be decided by the AVN owners (Paul Fishbein, Stuart Franks, Darren Roberts).

Connelly signed a one-year non-compete (meaning he couldn't work for another trade publication for a year after the end of his AVN gig but he could work for a consumer publication right away).

AVN's attorneys in this case (PC 039632) are Lerman, Pointer and Clarkson at 12121 Wilshire Blvd, #1325, Los Angeles, 90025.

Connelly's suing for breach of contract, unpaid wages, physical disability discrimination, retaliation, termination in violation of California's family rights act and wrongful termination in violation of public policy.

14. Plaintiff became employed by AVN in April 2003, pursuant to two written agreements (the "Employment Agreement" and the "Consulting Agreement", both defined below). He was employed by AVN continuously until his termination on October 28, 2005 as Publisher of AVN Magazine and Editor of AVN.com. Plaintiff routinely performed services for AVN's affiliate, Teddy Communications, Inc ("TCI").

15. On August 8, 2005, Plaintiff attended a meeting with Paul Fishbein and Burt Messer ("Messer"), AVN's Chief Financial Officer. At that meeting, Fishbein expressed concerning regarding Plaintiff's absences from work and behavior. Fishbein inquired as to whether Plaintiff's absences and behavior were a result of drug or alcohol abuse. Fishbein had also made such inquiry prior to the August 8, 2005 meeting or at any time prior to that time, did Plaintiff indicate that he was suffering from an addiction to alcohol or any other substance.

16. At the August 8, 2005 meeting, Plaintiff did state however, that he had been under a great deal of workplace stress and demand, which had been taking a toll on him. He indicated that he had been working long hours in what he considered to be a frustrating and demoralizing environment. Plaintiff informed Fishbein that he would seek guidance and appropriate care for his stress and requested and was granted a medical leave of absence. Plaintiff never agreed to go into rehabilitation, as he felt it was unnecessary, since he suffered from no addiction. Fishbein agreed that AVN would continue to pay Plaintiff while he was on medical leave.

17. Following the August 8 meeting, Plaintiff sought the assistance of Dr. Sharon Mithcell ("Dr. Mitchell") of Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation ("AIM"). Fishbein and AVN were aware that Plaintiff was using Dr. Mitchell and AIM to help him with his problems. In fact, Dr. Mitchell and Fishbein spoke at length regarding her treatment of Plaintiff.

18. On August 29, 2005, Fishbein wrote a letter to Plaintiff stating it was Fishbein's belief that Plaintiff was not in a rehabilitation facility. Fishbeinfurther stated that the basis for his [Fishbein's] agreement to pay Plaintiff during his medical leave was that Plaintiff "would enter a bona fide and legitimate substance abuse program sufficient to deal with [Plaintiff's] addiction." In his August 29, 2005 letter, Fishbein informed Plaintiff that it was Fishbein's opinion "that only after successfully completing at least a 30 day program, will [Plaintiff] be able to return to work at AVN and do your job safely and properly." Fishbein concluded the letter by acknowledging that apparently the parameters of the agreement were not clear.

19. Plaintiff responded to Fishbein's August 29, 2005 letter by letter on September 1, 2005, reiterating what he advised Fishbein at the August 8, 2005 meeting. Plaintiff informed Fishbein that Plaintiff had been under workplace stress and demand, which was taking a toll on him. Plaintiff denied ever telling Fishbein that he was suffering from an addiction to alcohol or drugs, and therefore he saw no need for a formal rehabilitation program, despite Fishbein's belief to the contrary. In his September 1, 2005 letter, Plaintiff also informed Fishbein that Plaintiff had been consulting with Dr. Mitchell and was currently seeing a therapist, who was assisting Plaintiff with his concerns about his present situation.

20. On September 1, 2005, Dr. Ira Heilveil sent a letter to Fishbein. In that letter, Dr. Heilveil informed Fishbein, that was currently treating Plaintiff for difficulties relating to stress and conflicts arising from his current employment. Dr. Heilveil informed Fishbein, that at that time, "returning to work would exacerbate (Plaintiff's) difficulties, and that [Plaintiff] should not return to work until his current emotional situation improves."

21. Fishbein responded to Plaintiff's September 1, 2005 letter via letter dated September 6, 2005, in an attempt to "set the record straight." Fishbein claimed once again that , Plaintiff admitted to suffering from a drug problem, and that he offered to continue to pay Plaintiffhis salary while he attended a rehabilitation program. Fishbein denied that Plaintiff had ever mentioned that AVN was a demoralizing work environment, and claimed that Plaintiff's September 1, 2005 communication was the first mention of any work related stress by Plaintiff. Fishbein ended the letter by giving Plaintiff a 30 day leave of absence, with pay, so that Plaintiff could deal with his stress.

22. In an email dated September 7, 2005,  Fishbein expressed to Plaintiff that, "I guess we have a disagreement on what went down last month. I actually thought you'd be in rehab."

23. On September 20, 2005, Plaintiff responded to Fishbein's September 6, 2005 letter by email, reiterating their differing recollections of the August 8, 2005 meeting. Furthermore, Plaintiff again acknowledged that he was attending therapy twice a week with an appropriate professional, so as to correct his problem. Fishbein, responded on September 22, 2005 agreeing they had differeing recollections.

24. On September 28, 2005, Rene B. Lonner ("Dr. Lonner"), a licensed clinical social worker, sent a letter to Fishbein. This letter informed Fishbein that Plaintiff was under her care for stress-related issues and was unable to work at that time. She further informed Fishbein that Plaintiff would be re-evaluated on October 31, 2005.

25. On October 17, 2005, AVN sent Plaintiff a letter informing him that AVN would not be renewing his Employment and Consulting Agreements when they expired on April 30, 2006. At that time, Plaintiff remained on medical leave.

26. When Plaintiff called Fishbein to discuss Fishbein's October 17, 2005 letter, Fishbein informed Plaintiff that things had not worked out and that was the reason for the non-renewal of the agreements.

27. On October 19, 2005, Glenn E. Lerman, Esq., attorney for AVN sent a settlement offer to Larry Drapkin, Esg., Plaintiff's former counsel in an attempt to have Plaintiff resign his employment with AVN.

28. On October 25, 2005, Messer sent Plaintiff a letter informing Plaintiff that AVN was temporarily suspending Plaintiff's AVN-issued American Express card, explaining that Plaintiff was not working at the time and had no need to use it for business purposes.

29. On October 26, 2005, Mr. Drapkin, counsel for Plaintiff sent a letter to AVN's counsel, Mr. Lerman, communicating Plaintiff's dismay at the non-renewal of his Employment and Consulting Agreements, given Plaintiff's intention to return to work at AVN as soon as his healthcare provider determined he was medically able to work. Mr. Drapkin further reiterated the differing opinions of their respective clients concerning Plaintiff's medical condition. Mr. Drapkin informed Mr. Lerman that Plaintiff and his medical care provider undertook what they believed to be the appropriate therapeutic plan to address Plaintiff's mental health needs and that Plaintiff continued to make progress. In this letter, Mr. Drapkin on behalf of Plaintiffs advised AVN through its counsel that the non-renewal of the Employment and Consulting Agreements constituted discrimination and retaliation and urged AVN to reconsider.

30. On October 27, 2005, Fishbein received a letter from Dr. Lonner, informing Fishbein that Plaintiff was still under her care to deal with Plaintiff's stress-related issues and was still unable to work at that time. Dr. Lonner informed Fishbein that Plaintiff would be re-evaluated by November 30, 2005.

31. On October 28, 2005, Plaintiff received a letter from Fishbein, advising that, effective immediately, his Employment Agreement and his Consulting Agreements with AVN were being terminated, pursuant to paragraph 3(a) (iii) of each such agreement for "intentional dishonesty."

32. Until the moment of his termination, Plaintiff was in constant communication with Fishbein, informing Fishbein that he was receiving therapy to deal with his issues and that his medical provider believed that the chosen treatment plan was effective.

33. Following his termination, Plaintiff requested that AVN state the reasons underlying the termination, pursuant to Section 3 of the applicable Employment and Consulting Agreements. Plaintiff received no response at that time and still has received no response to this request.

11/1/06

Tim Connelly Sues AVN For Wrongful Termination

The former Adult Video News Editor and Publisher (2003-2005) was asked by his AVN bosses in the summer of 2005 to enter rehab for his drug excesses.

His addictions (cocaine, etc) had been causing problems since shortly after he took the job in May 2003, signing a three year contract.

In August 2005, Connelly agreed to enter rehab. He took three months pay.

He was assured that his job would be waiting for him when he returned to AVN.

Connelly never entered rehab and vanished from the industry. He left few, if any, friends behind at AVN. Most everybody who liked him at first had come to hate him.

On Oct. 18, Tim filed suit against AVN in Chatsworth. The case number is PC 039632. Can anyone get me a pdf file of this suit?

This lawsuit was expected since he left AVN in August 2005.

.........

From May 2003 until early 2005, Tim Connelly could think of himself as the most powerful man in porn. Then his world came crashing down as his drugs and his demons overcame him.

On May 9, 2003 news broke that Connelly had been appointed the Publisher and Editor of porn's trade publication Adult Video News.

The news was greeted happily around the industry. Connelly was widely known and widely liked.

Connelly quickly fired Wayne Hentai (the DVD Editor), copy editor Dianne, Joy in the art department, Tod Hunter (replaced by Jared Rutter), Robin the art director (replaced by Jesse), and Jeremy Spencer the gay editor (replaced by Doug).

Problems with Connelly's lack of journalistic skills became immediately apparently. Tim's writing had to be extensively edited. Still, early on in his tenure, this was viewed as just a minor problem.

James DiGiorgio and others appointed Connelly to the position of industry spokesman.

Connelly loved the power and publicity of his new position. He went on Good Morning America to talk about the Rob Black obscenity case.

Though for years a personal friend of Black's and a big booster of his content in his various magazines (such as Adam Film World), Connelly told GMA that he found Rob's movies "distasteful."

After Rob Black publicly attacked him for this and other slights, Connelly (along with Paul Fishbein) thought a second time and brought Rob and Extreme Associates (December 3, 2003) back into the pages of AVN.

Rob Black writes November 21, 2003:

Connelly was not content to report the news, he wanted to shape industry policy. In 2003, engineered the removal of Bill Margold from the board of the Free Speech Coalition and he twisted the FSC's arm into supporting AIM (Adult Industry Medicine, run by Connelly's long-time lover Sharon Mitchell) as the industry's exclusive testing center.

Around this time, Connelly relapsed into drug abuse (cocaine, vicodin, etc), much of it with his girlfriend of the time, Jennifer Osborne (co-author of The Other Hollywood).

Tim alienated most of his staff at AVN and important advertisers (including some who'd recommended to Paul that he hire Tim, they later backtracked and recommended firing Tim).

Rumors ran wild that Connelly was going to be fired from AVN (though Tim had a three-year contract).

In early 2005, Connelly brought Peter Stokes into AVN to replace Mike Ramone as Managing Editor. Instead, AVN President Paul Fishbein decided that Ramone would replace Connelly as Editor. Stokes moved to Managing Editor. He quickly joined the rest of AVN in despising Connelly.

AVN Publisher Tim Connelly Told To Get Rehab

Mike South writes 8/8/05: "I started hearing rumors today that Tim Connelly was ousted from AVN. I have heard these in the past but this time it was coming from high up sources. When I started pursuing it, it came out that he had admitted himself to rehab, this was the most reliable source yet so I contacted AVN and was told that it was, in fact correct that he is in rehab but that he has a job when he gets out, he has not been terminated or released from AVN."

AVN President Paul Fishbein writes: "Mike South came to me today and he had it right. Tim's going into rehab and taking care of his problem. When he returns he will still have a job at AVN. He needs to get healthy. It takes a big man to admit he has an addiction so I want to support him while he works things out. He's taking as long as he needs. I hope people are supportive."

Connelly's had a long-running cocaine problem.

Rodger Jacobs writes:

All I can say is it’s about goddamn time. I also share Mike’s sentiments about not kicking a man when he’s down but I will say that this normally soft-spoken, generous editor and publisher went through a long period of time where he was making promises to a lot of writers around town that he couldn’t keep. Plenty of people, myself included, fell victim to Connelly’s well-intentioned but ultimately very harmful deeds.

Good luck, Tim. Give me a call sometime.

8/13/05

Contrary to what Mike South and I published Monday, I've learned that Tim Connelly is not in rehab. Skippy writes: "I have learned from a very reliable source that Tim Connelly is not in rehab. I just heard that he is taking time off, nothing more. Maybe Fishbein was joking in order to give us all something to talk about. Maybe Fishbein secretly wants to be a publicist and decided to throw some spin out there."

Well, either way, Tim has had long-running problems with drugs such as cocaine. These problems have frequently spilled over into the way he does his job. After getting away with it for a couple of years, it looks like AVN is now forcing him to face the music.

Molly writes Friday 8/13/05 about the AVN publisher:

Connelly may not yet be in rehab, but he's certainly not just "taking time off, nothing more." My understanding is that Connelly is on a forced exile -- he needs to get clean as a precondition for returning to work. So the longer he delays rehab, the longer it will be before he returns. I'm told that the general AVN [attitude] is a sense of relief that Connelly and his hyper, aggressive, confrontational personality is out of the building and as a result, things are running much more smoothly. He has alienated many people there.

Kurt Lockwood phones me at 4:03pm Saturday. He sounds angry.

I want you to print this on your site verbatim. You're a parasite. I see that you've written something about my friend Tim Connelly. You're talking out of your ass. You don't what you're saying. You should have more consideration for somebody who is going through something rather than using every means necessary to make a quick buck. You're a parasite. If you write about my friend again, you're going to have to deal with me when you see me in person. Got it?

April 2004 from Adultbeat.com:

When Tim Connelly succeeded Paul Fishbein as editor and publisher of Adult Video News, porn's dominant trade publication, most of the industry seemed happy.

Then the power went to Tim Connelly's head. He'd get on the phone and tell company owners who they should hire and fire. He fires off dramatic proclamations on AVN.com, such as that the talent should only test at the medical facility of his former lover Sharon Mitchell. He'd twist the Free Speech Coalition's arm into going along. He'd twist a lot of arms to force people to test at AIM. I suspect, but have no direct evidence for, he was responsible for getting Bill Margold fired from the Free Speech Coalition board and employ (partly for opposing Tim on the AIM exclusivity position).

Now he's made this dramatic proclamation that production should halt for 60 days, thereby ensuring that much production won't halt for five days. If he'd suggested a two week halt, most people would've gone along. Sixty days is a dramatic gesture. I grant it has flair. But it's not practical for those who don't have the cushy financial security of AVN behind their paychecks.

I've heard a saying that in youth, men pursue pleasure. In middle age, they pursue power. In old age, money.

Power is Tim Connelly's drug. He snorts it like pure Colombian cocaine. He goes on these manic jags where he believes he can run the porn world. He makes wild sweeping promises he can never fulfill. Then he comes down to crashing lows. You never know which Tim Connelly you're going to deal with. His latest power kick is to tell porners they should not talk to the mainstream media. Leave that to such experienced hands as Sharon Mitchell and himself. How cozy is that?

XXX says:

Tim's dragging all of AVN down. Not that I'm that impressed with the rest of them. I know the illiteracy rate is appalling in this country but that some girl [Destiny] should be reported as HIV positive around the world because their reporter can't compose a sentence correctly, and then it takes them 18 hours to issue a clarification. They needed to issue a retraction. They stated that two girls had tested HIV positive and then began the next sentence implying that Destiny was one of them. That calls for a retraction. I was holding my breath because normally they don't update over the weekend. I feared they were going to leave that libelous information up all weekend. All the chickens are coming home to roost.