sister wives declaration

8/3/2019 Sister Wives Declaration

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Jonathan Turley {Pro Hac)

2000 H St., N. W.

Washington, D.C. 20052

(202) 994-7001

[email protected]

Adam A l b a , 13128

2167 N . Ma i n St.

Centerville, UT 84014

(801) 792-8785

[email protected]

Attorneys for Plaintiffs

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF U T A H , C E N T R A L DIVISION

K O D Y B R O W N , M E R I B R O W N , )

J A N E L L E B R O W N , CHR I S T I N E B R O W N , )

R O B Y N S U L L I V A N , )

Plaintiffs, ) D E C L A R A T I O N OF DAVID

) TENZER

V . )

) Judge Waddoups

G A R Y R. H E R B E R T , in his of f i c i a l capacity )as Governor ofUtah; M A R K S H U R T L E F F , in ) Ci v i l No. 2:1 l-cv-00652-CW

his of f i c i a l capacity as Attorney General of )

Utah; J E F F R E Y R. B U H M A N , in his of f i c i a l )

capacity as County Attorney for Utah County, )

Defendants.

D E C L A R A T I O N OF DAVID TENZER

I, David Tenzer, do declare:

1. I am a talent manager working with the Brown family, who are the plaintiffs in this

action.

Case 2:11-cv-00652-CW Document 25-1 Filed 12/13/11 of 7



2. I am an entertainment lawyer, talent manager, and business consultant, with extensive

experience in many sectors of the media industry, including televisionpackaging,

branded entertainment, talent representation, sponsorships and endorsement.

3. I am the Managing Director of the Personalities and Lifestyle Division at Generate, a

management, production and marketing company, with offices in Santa Monica ,

California and N ew York .

4. I also maintain an entertainment law practice as the Law Office of Dav id Tenzer, P.C. ,

located at 305 South Carmelina Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90049.

5. I have also been engaged in several prior instances as an expert witness in the area of

entertainment law and talent representation.

6. Over roughly 30 years, I have represented artists and companies in al l areas of

entertainment, including actors, writers, directors, producers, on-camera personalities,

lifestyle experts, film and television distributors and digital content providers.

7. This includes 24 years (1982-2006) of work at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles,

one of the world's leading talent agencies.

8. My time at C AA included work as an executive inMotion Picture Business Affai rs

before transferring to the Television Division, where I was later named the head of

Television Business Affai rs . I also worked as a Television Agent, working first in

television movies, then covering CAA ' s projects at CBS .

9. I co-founded and either operated or co-operated CAA ' s Intemational Television

Department, Alternative Programming Department, and later its Lifestyles Department.

During my tenure at C AA , I also worked with the agency's N ew Media , Film Financing

and Marketing Departments, handling clients such as eBay, Delta Airlines and Procter &




Gamble.

10. This is my second year representing the Browns, and I handle the fu l l array of media-

related business affairs for the family.

11.1 was informed recently by the lead counsel for the Brown family, Jonathan Turley, that

the Court had asked for evidence of the costs for the Browns due to their legal status in

Utah.

12. I am aware that the family has already submitted three personal declarations detailing

their injury from the state law and investigation.

13.1 was initially surprised that the question of injury or standing would be in doubt for a

family defmed by the state as a criminal relationship, particularly a family that is featured

on television and engaged in other media activities.

14. 1 understand that the Browns are not just defmed as a criminal relationship under Utah

law, but have been publicly denounced by the prosecutors as committing crimes every

night on their show, and have been the subject of a very public criminal investigation for

over one year.

15. As aprofessional in the entertainment field with three decades of experience, it is clear to

me that celebrities who have been publicly defined by state law as criminals, and

denounced by prosecutors as de facto criminals, would have a dramatically reduced

ability to secure business opportunities and contracts.

16. As an expert in this field, I doubt the Court could find any experienced lawyer or talent

agent who did not confirm that the criminal statute in this case has an obvious and direct

negative impact on the ability of this family to secure opportunities and contracts.




17. As a personal representative for the Brown family, I can attest to the fact that the impact

of this presumed criminal status has been prejudicial to the Browns.

18.1 have handled various business and entertainment matters arising from or related to the

Browns' reality show, Sister Wives. The fact that the family is defmed as a criminal

relationship under state law has, in my opinion, reduced the number of opportunities from

companies, which would not be comfortable associating with them in light of their legal

status.

19.1 have spoken with other talent representatives, executives and entertainment lawyers

who have confirmed that the public identification of the Browns under statute (and

expressly by prosecutors) as de facto criminals creates a significant barrier for most

companies and organizations.

20. One executive confirmed to me that the existence of a statute defining the family as a

criminal relafionship would be a "non-starter" for a potential corporate sponsor.

21. With prosecutors saying that they both believe the Brown family to be committing crimes

every night on television as we l l as reserving the right to prosecute the family for such

alleged crimes, such companies would not want to risk association with the family when

it could be tied later to an arrest or criminal case.

22. Any expert in this field (including myself) can confirm how the threat of prosecution has

resulted in the loss of existing contracts and the deterrence of contracts for a wide array

of celebrities accused of possible crimes.

23. As the success of the television program attests, I believe that many viewers have

changed their view of plural families in watching Sister Wives and the family members

remain popular personalities with many people.




24. However, few companies feel comfortable associating with a family that has been

declared by prosecutors as committing felonies on their program and defmed as criminals

under state law.

25. Indeed, most endorsement contracts have clauses that allow for termination due to the

commission of a crime - whether such a crime is actually charged or not.

26. Thus, the Utah law places the Browns immediately in breach of standard contracts by

being defmed as a criminal association or relationship.

27. The statements of prosecutors regarding the television program seemed perfectly tailored

to chill any opportunities for the Browns in this regard: by saying that the Browns

commit crimes each night on their television programs, the prosecutors have created a

threshold barrier for a standard contract in this industry for the family.

28. When these comments and the very public criminal investigation are combined with the

state statute, it creates an obvious chilling effect on the ability of the family to secure

business opportunities and contracts.

29.1 have also been personally aware of the costs to the family in l iving under the constant

threat of arrest under the Utah law.

30.1 understand that the family exhausted much of its savings to move to Nevada to protect

their children from the constant uncertainty and stress of the criminal investigation.

31.1 understand that the move was not suggested by the network or the production company.

Rather, it was done entirely in consultation with counsel and revealed later to the network

as necessary to protect the family.

32. Indeed, it is my understanding that this entire lawsuit was filed without any prior warning

to the network, which was unaware of the filing until it was reported in the media.




33.1 understand that the move to Nevada cost the family thousands of dollars but

complicated the production significantly.

34. After the move to Nevada, I understand that the prosecutors again made public statements

that served to "poison the we l l " with respect to future opportunities for the family, by

stating that the move would not deter them from prosecuting the family, if they decided

to do so. Since the prosecutors previously stated that they saw the show as conclusive

evidence of crimes, these statements seemed designed to continue the public labeling of

the family as criminals in the eyes of the state.

35. In arranging speaking engagements and other events for the family, I have had to curtail

their availability to avoid situations that could be used by prosecutors to justify an arrest.

Since the prosecutors have expressly retained the discretion to prosecute the Browns, we

have had to avoid some public appearances in Utah, to protect them.

36. In my career, I have never before represented clients who have experienced a substantial

reduction in earnings due to public statements and actions by state officials, including but

not limited to the state law itself

37. Absent their status as presumed felons under state law, the Browns would, in my

professional opinion, have greater professional and career opportunities, given their

national popularity.

38. The business opportunities lost as a result of the state law and public statements of

prosecutors could potentially be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. For those

companies who would be interested in the Browns, most would be deterred by the

existence of a statute defining their family as criminal or the potential for arrest at the

discretion of the prosecution.




39. If the law were declared unconstitutional, it would remove this barrierto the Browns in

contracting and speaking in the future.

40. The foregoing statements have been based on my review of priorrecords related to the

Brown family as well as personal conversations that I have had withpeers inthe

entertaiimient field.

Executed on this. day of December 2011inLos Angeles, California,

Los Angeles, C A 90049


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