A top Latvian model might be gorgeous, but she's not so 'unique' that she will ruin her old employer's business by jumping to another modeling agency, a Manhattan judge has ruled.
Ginta Lapina, 25, is just one of many highly paid models who worked for Men Women N.Y. Model Management, Inc. and her departure last summer to join DNA Management will not necessarily cripple her old agency, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Manuel Mendez said in a decision posted Tuesday.
NY Model Management asked the court to order Lapina to return to the agency where her contract runs until January 2016, arguing that she is 'a unique and irreplaceable talent' whose 'doll-like features and posing skill' appeals to many high-end merchants.
The agency also wanted the court to block Lapina from working for DNA until the matter was resolved.
NY Model Management said it had invested a lot of time and money building Lapina's stature in the modeling industry where she is ranked 27 among the 50 highest-paid models in the world.
The judge cited an earlier court decision which said that a Wilhelmina Model was not 'unique' simply because 'she looks like herself and not somebody else, and is very popular' with photographers and merchants.
Mendez said NY Model Management claims that Lapina's defection threatened the existence of its business and would cost them goodwill were 'conclusory and speculative.'
He said the firm still has the right to use arbitration to chase its 15% fee on all of Lapina's modeling assignments until her old contract expires.
Brian Kaplan, a lawyer for NY Model Management, said his client intends to do just that.
Meanwhile, both parties are continuing another legal battle in federal court where Lapina sued NY Model Management in August.
She charged that the agency duped her into doing an advertising campaign for hair products by telling her that a photo shoot in Paris would be used to promote Karl Lagerfeld.
She demanded $1 million in damages, claiming that the incident has 'diluted' her brand.
Lapina said she quit NY Model Management because they had effectively breached her contract by not getting her permission to use the photos for hair products.
Lapina is married to businessman Adam Hock, 49, who was involved in a 2012 nightclub brawl in Manhattan with a member of the royal family of Monaco, Pierre Casiraghi.
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