For high-level executives, a termination is not just a loss of income — it is a reputational event that can impact your standing in the industry for years.
When a studio, network, agency or corporation hands you a severance agreement, their attorneys have already optimized it in the company's favor. The general release of claims embedded in that document may extinguish valuable rights — including claims for discrimination, unpaid bonuses, unvested equity and retaliation — before you fully understand what happened.
California's strict prohibition on non-compete agreements (Business and Professions Code § 16600) provides significant leverage when negotiating your exit from a major studio, agency or production company. Non-disparagement clauses, reference letter terms, COBRA continuation and equity acceleration are all negotiable — but only if you have counsel at the table before you sign.
Eagan Law scrutinizes every "For Cause" termination notice to ensure employers are not using pretextual justifications to avoid paying earned bonuses or equity. We bring a litigation-ready mindset to every negotiation — which changes the dynamic entirely.
Not every executive exit is negotiated. When a company wrongfully forces out a senior executive — through constructive discharge, pretextual termination, discrimination or retaliation — the executive faces not just a financial loss but a reputational and professional threat that demands an aggressive response. Eagan Law represents executives who have been wrongfully pushed out, pursuing litigation where negotiation fails and holding companies accountable in court for the full measure of harm caused.
High-level executive terminations frequently involve claims beyond the employment relationship itself — defamation through false "for cause" narratives circulated within an industry, interference with prospective business relationships, and breach of duties owed to the executive under the employment agreement. We pursue every avenue of recovery, bringing the same litigation intensity to executive employment disputes that we bring to high-stakes commercial litigation.
Executive exits rarely involve only the severance agreement — they frequently trigger related claims including wrongful termination where the departure was forced rather than voluntary, employment discrimination where age, gender or other protected characteristics motivated the decision, NDA and confidentiality obligations embedded in the separation agreement, and for entertainment industry executives, contract and rights disputes that survive the employment relationship.