FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 10/16/2014 10:27 PM INDEX NO. 652325/2014 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 34 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 10/16/2014 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK BENCHMARK ENTERTAINMENT, LLC, a California limited liability company, v. Plaintiff, BOBBY BROWN, RON DEVOE, MIKE BIVINS, RALPH TRESVANTS, RICKY BELL and JOHNNY GILL p/k/a NEW EDITION and NEW EDITION ENTERPRISES, LLC, a limited liability company, Index No. 652325/2014 AFFIDAVIT OF RALPH TRESVANT IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO DISMISS OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, STAY ACTION Action Filed: July 28, 2014 Defendants. Ralph Tresvant, being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. I am a founding member of the recording group New Edition and a defendant in the instant action. I have personal knowledge of the matters below and, if asked, could and would testify competently to them. I make this affidavit in support of the motion of myself and defendants Ron DeVoe, Mike Bivins, Johnny Gill, Ricky Bell, and New Edition Enterprises, LLC ( NE LLC ) to dismiss or, in the alternative, to stay the instant action. 2. New Edition is a classic R&B and pop group that first achieved international commercial success in the early 1980s. 3. New Edition had conversations with Kevin Gasser ( Gasser ) and John Hammond ( Hammond ) starting around Fall 2012 about retaining their company, plaintiff Benchmark Entertainment, LLC ( Benchmark ), as the group s personal manager. My best recollection is that those conversations were by phone, sometimes with other members of the group also on the calls, 1
during which the members were at home or, sometimes, on the road. Gasser and Hammond said that Benchmark s offices were in Santa Monica, California. 4. New Edition was enjoying substantial success at the time. We were scheduled to receive the Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award on November 12, 2012 and we were planning our thirtieth anniversary tour. We were actively touring and appearing on television and radio. 5. New Edition hired Benchmark in or about September 2012 based on Gasser s and Hammond s promises to procure new opportunities for us and their commitment not to take commissions except on the work they brought us. We had no written agreement. 6. We never discussed how long the agreement would last. We never agreed that, if Benchmark stopped managing New Edition, New Edition would pay Benchmark commissions on income New Edition received afterwards. We did not agree on a commission structure. They did promise never to take more in commissions on any project they brought to us than any individual band member took home. 7. New Edition terminated Benchmark in June 2014, before New Edition performed any of the concerts that Benchmark seeks to commission in this lawsuit. 8. Nearly all of my interactions with Benchmark were by phone when I was in Los Angeles, California or traveling outside of New York. 9. I met Benchmark management in person a handful of times. I and other group members met with Gasser at a hotel in Los Angeles, California. I believe the group met with Gasser, Hammond and Steve Greener from Benchmark in Florida. Gasser and Hammond came to the November 2012 Soul Train Awards show in Las Vegas when we received our Lifetime Achievement Award. I had fifteen or twenty calls with Benchmark managers, most or all of them from my home California. 2
10. I recall being at one meeting in New York at ICM. That meeting concerned my individual activities, not New Edition. No one from Benchmark attended that meeting. 11. I am a resident of Los Angeles County, California, where I have resided since around 2010. Before that I resided in Atlanta, Georgia. 12. I have never owned real property in the State of New York. 13. I have never had employees or owned a business in the State of New York. 14. I have never had offices in the State of New York. 15. I have never worked or been employed in New York, except for infrequent personal appearances and occasional visits for pleasure. 16. In 2012, I performed three times in New York with New Edition, on January 1, 2012 at the Paradise Theater in the Bronx, April 21, 2012 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden and on September 19, 2012 at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. 17. Neither I nor New Edition performed in New York in 2013. 18. In 2014, I performed once with New Edition in New York, at a New Edition concert at Barclay s Center in New York City on June 29, 2014. 19. Also in 2014, New Edition, including myself, performed the following concerts, some with member Bobby Brown, and some at which he did not appear. June 26, 2014 MGM Grand @ Foxwoods Casino @Ledyard, CT June 27, 2014 Agganis Arena @Boston, MA June 28, 2014 Mann Center @Philadelphia, PA July 2, 2014 Landers Center @Southaven, MS July 3, 2014 Chastain Amphitheatre @Atlanta, GA July 5, 2014 PNC Music Pavilion @Charlotte, NC 4409.060/812237.1 3
July 6, 2014 KFC Yum! Center @Louisville, KY July 8, 2014 Municipal Auditorium @Nashville, TN July 9, 2014 Northern Quest Casino @Airway Heights, WA July 10, 2014 Reliant Arena @Houston, TX July 11, 2014 Winstar Casino @Thackerville, OK July 12, 2014 Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie @Dallas, TX July 13, 2014 Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre @Oklahoma City, OK July 15, 2014 Saenger Theatre @New Orleans, LA July 17, 2014 Red Hat Amphitheatre @ Raleigh, NC July 18, 2014 Farm Bureau Live @ Virgina Beach @Virgina Beach, VA July 19, 2014 Baltimore Arena @Baltimore, MD July 20, 2014 Verizon Center @Washington, D.C. July 22, 2014 Midland Theatre @Kansas City, MO July 24, 2014 St. Charles Family Arena @St. Louis, MO July 25, 2014 Chene Park @Detroit, MI July 26, 2014 Macy s Jazz Festival @Cincinnati, OH July 27, 2014 Horseshoe Casino @Hammond, IN August 1, 2014 Thunder Valley Casino Amphitheatre @Lincoln, CA August 2, 2014 Oracle Arena @Oakland, CA August 3, 2014 Nokia Theatre @Los Angeles, CA 20. New Edition formed NE LLC in January 2014 in the State of Florida to be our / / / / / / 4
. "touring entity." NE LLC never had any offices, employees or property in New York, and does not and never has regularly conducted business there. Dated: October _l!f_, 2014 State of Ca.\!omia } CounlyoflosAngeles On before me, Gilbert Romaro, Notary Pub!<. pern0n:::: c ared -- - --'-- vf::o p:vrod o me on the b?. is ol s8.tisfactory ev:canca to be the person(s wl1osa n31tf'j(s) is.' are!'' 1'Y-c - -..-: '' _,,, ";:h:n mstrurnent and acknowledgeo to rr.e t1at he/.sh"j:iv;, - o 1:1 ills/her/their autl1olizei. capacityqesj, and t:.. -,;:ur;::;i_s) or the Instrument the pai (s), or!ha eiil..s :on( } acted, exeruter- thg ll1strumsnt. t c._:,}, e-..., L: i.j'j:l'/uj l.1.3r the laws ri the State cl Gati/w;,;l Ut.:i!.;.,,-:;1.., c;, g paragraph is true and cor.ect Wl1NESS my Mrn:l andouiciai seal. Signature: ---,.,; i. '"!'3..: : \!!'rr:.-. '''.. ;; COMM. 1955360 l. GILBERT ROMERO NOTARYPUBLICCAUFORNIA <f> LOSANGELESCOUNTY _..... ':'': :. --?'." ; 1::.?:: ric:: J 4409.060/812237.1 5