Throwing the book at them! Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix are being sued by writer Alison Baker over their book, Fancy AF Cocktails.
The Vanderpump Rules stars are being accused of breach of contract, according to documents obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, December 17.
The document states that Baker, who is a novelist and author, met Madix, 35, through a mutual friend in February 2016, which is when they began discussing cowriting a book about cocktails told from the Bravo star’s perspective.
The following month, Baker claims she entered into an agreement for services rendered as cowriter with Madix in exchange for an initial fee of $3,000 and 45 percent of the total advance paid by any publisher who ultimately published the book based on the book concept. The agreement also allegedly stated that Baker would earn 45 percent “actual earned royalties on sales of such book in perpetuity” and cowriter credit on the title page.
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Baker further claimed that in 2017, Sandoval “forced himself” into the agreement and suggested he and Madix write a separate book based on Baker and Madix’s book concept.
As a result of Sandoval’s involvement, Baker states she created a new collaboration agreement with both reality stars, in which they would all have to agree to “share any revenue from this separate endeavor in equal thirds.”
The document claims that Sandoval and Madix sent back a revised version of the agreement because they were not “prepared to contribute the level of work necessary to complete the task of successfully writing and self-publishing a book.”
The trio did not move forward, but according to Baker, the TV personalities wrote their own book, Fancy AF Cocktails: Drink Recipes from a Couple of Professional Drinkers, which she learned about in August 2018. The book allegedly “incorporates many of the proprietary rights” based on the original book concept she worked on with Madix, resulting in a breach of the first contract.
Baker claimed that the couple’s book release was “willful, malicious, and fraudulent” and she is therefore entitled to damages and attorney’s fees.
The author is asking for an accounting of all monies and benefits received or to be received for the sales of the “infringing book,” which allegedly stemmed from their book concept. She is also asking for general and specific damages in an amount to be decided upon at trial, “reasonable” attorney fees and further relief as the court sees fit.
Sandoval and Madix released their cocktail book in December 2019 and celebrated the one-year anniversary by releasing a Fancy AF Cocktail Garden Collection in collaboration with Gardenuity.
