Clark, of El Granada, is credited with introducing Mavericks to the surf community and promoting it as an international destination for big-wave riding. He co-founded the famed Mavericks Surf Contest in 1998, and partnered with Evolve Sports in 2003 to create Mavericks Surf Ventures, the company that runs the event today.
Clark acted as contest director and a key figurehead for the Mavericks brand until last summer, when Mavericks Surf Ventures terminated him. Despite his break with the company and the event, Clark’s name and image remain irrevocably tied to Mavericks for many surfing fans.
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Filed with the Superior Court of San Francisco County, Clark’s complaint alleges the company reneged on contracts that would have netted the surfer $9,250 a month, and is withholding tens of thousands of dollars in payments. Clark is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in retroactive salary and royalties.
“I’ve waited patiently and remained quiet in an effort to settle our issues in private, without casting a shadow over the contest that I founded,” Clark said in a prepared statement announcing the lawsuit. “But it’s obvious (Mavericks Surf Ventures) has no intention of working this out. They have forced me to file suit in order to move on with my life.”
The suit came one week after Mavericks Surf Ventures canceled a long-delayed mediation hearing, according to Clark’s attorney, Richard Mooney.
“That last bit of stonewalling was the impetus for making Jeff feel he had to move forward or nothing would happen. … He felt like he’d run out of options,” Mooney said.
Mavericks Surf Ventures CEO Keir Beadling, whom Clark repeatedly implicates by name in his complaint, issued an e-mail response in which he calls the lawsuit “premature and inappropriate” in light of a mediation hearing he says is scheduled for next month.
Clark’s complaint is “baseless,” said Beadling, adding that Clark breached the contract first. He declined to give details on Clark’s firing, but said it was “absolutely justified.”
The lawsuit publically reveals a fundamental dispute between the surfer and the company – both pledging supreme loyalty to the spirit of surfing and the famed spot – over how Mavericks should be treated as brand, contest and location.
Clark’s complaint claims the company “turned the contest into a corporate circus.” “I made a mistake and I trusted the wrong people,” Clark said.
In his response, Beadling underlined the company’s latest accomplishments, which include allowing competitors to call the contest, raising a $150,000 prize purse, and incorporating a host of eco-conscious components into contest organizing.
Brushing off Clark’s claims, Beadling called the action “an ill-advised and clumsy ploy to disrupt the contest season and prevent the competitors and the fans from experiencing a contest.”
The lawsuit comes as the 24 surfers invited to compete in this year’s event stand by for a quality contest day.
Clark is insisting on a jury trial, a demand Beadling and Mooney say won’t impact this year’s contest. Mooney said speculating about the future of the contest would be premature. In a definitive statement, Beadling assures that “regardless of how the disputes shake out, the company and brand will continue marching on full steam ahead.”
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