Models File Class Action Lawsuit Versus Wilhemina For Breach of Contract

At least 10 models have filed a proposed class action in New York Supreme Court alleging that at least seven agencies, two advertising firms, Loreal USA Inc. and the owner of Procter & Gamble breached their contracts and cheated them out of money with the repeated use of their photographs.

The plaintiffs alleged that agencies, including Wilhemina Models Inc., Ford Models Inc. and Elite Model Management New York LLC collected checks from ad agencies and companies that used the models’ photographs on advertisements. The models said that they were not paid nor informed of this usage by their respective agencies.

“[The models] performed their obligations by providing their images. The modeling agency defendants failed to perform when they failed to pay to the plaintiffs moneys received as agents on the plaintiffs’ behalf.” the complaint said.

One of the plaintiffs, Louisa Raske, narrated in the complaint that she was in a CVS drugstore in Miami in June 2012 when she saw her face on Loreal hair color boxes. The lawsuit said that she signed a contract with Next Management LLC when she was 16. After she was dropped by the agency, they allegedly continued ti sell her images to companies.

The lawsuit added that when Raske asked for a billing statement accounting for the use of her image, the agency allegedly avoided her. She went to McCann Erickson Corp. after she remembered working with them. McCann provided her with an accounting of how much they spent for the use of her image. Next Management LLC eventually paid her $31,000 but allegedly refused to provide her with with an accounting of what the agency earned off her image.

Most of the models have the same story of their photos being used but not getting paid.

The models are represented by Mark E. Seitelman and S. Skip Taylor of Mark E. Seitelman Law Offices.

The case is Alex Shanklin et al. v. Wilhemina Models Inc. et al., case number 653702/2013, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.