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Author drops lawsuit against Madix, Sandoval of `Vanderpump Rules’
Entertainment May 12, 2022
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An author who sued Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix of “Vanderpump Rules,” alleging their 2019 cocktail book infringed on some of her ideas, has dropped her lawsuit against the couple.
Lawyers for plaintiff Alison Baker filed court papers on Wednesday asking that her breach-of-contract/fraud suit be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be revived later. The court papers did not state if a settlement was reached or if Baker was not pursuing the case for other reasons, and an attorney for the plaintiff could not be immediately reached.
Baker sued in December 2020, saying she met Madix, now 36, through a mutual friend in February 2016, and that they began talking about collaborating on a book about cocktails told from the perspective of Madix, a bartender on the Bravo network show.
The following month, Baker and Madix entered into an agreement calling for Baker to receive an initial fee of $3,000 and 45% of the total advance paid by any publisher who ultimately published the book based on the book concept, the suit stated. The agreement also allegedly stated that Baker would earn 45% actual earned royalties on sales of such book “in perpetuity” and a co-writer credit on the title page.
Sandoval, now 38, became “openly jealous” about the two women working together and suggested the three of them work on a separate book based on the existing concept to be self-published, which was agreed upon by the parties with an equal sharing of profits, the suit stated.
As Baker anticipated, however, Madix and Sandoval “were not prepared to contribute the level of work necessary to complete the task of successfully writing and self-publishing a book,” according to the suit, which further states that Baker told the couple in August 2017 that she no longer wanted to “work on a self-published version of a book based on the book concept,” according to the suit.
But to Baker’s “shock and dismay,” however, the plaintiff found out in August 2018 that the couple was publishing their own book, “Fancy AF Cocktails: Drink Recipes from a Couple of Professional Drinkers,” that incorporated the concept she and Madix had discussed in 2016, the suit stated.
Lawyers for Madix and Sandoval argued in their court papers that Baker’s suit did not state whether the alleged contract she had with the couple was written, oral, or implied, and that the author’s fraud allegation was vague.
