Curtis Brown opposes Jeffrey Archer lawsuit

Curtis Brown has said it "entirely rejects" a lawsuit from Jeffrey Archer alleging the agency failed to secure more than £500,000 in payments from publisher Pan Macmillan.

The author has accused the agency of failing to secure money from book deals with Pan Macmillan over the 17-year period he was represented by the agency.

Archer parted ways with Curtis Brown last year and has now said he is owed at least £538,486 in missing payments for his books as well as £250,000 for accrued interest, according to a report in the London Evening Standard. The Bookseller understands that legal proceedings have been issued but the case has not yet been heard in court.

The former MP has also claimed that the agency failed to retain more than 250 documents relating to book deals with Pan Macmillan, in papers filed at the High Court, the Standard said. It is alleged that Archer first discovered a problem in 2018 after asking agency Mitchell Rights Management (MRM) to run a "reconciliation exercise" to check he had received all the money he was owed from his work, identifying "underpayments" of £538,486 since 2002, plus interest of over £250,000. Curtis Brown is accused of a "breach of duty" because of "its apparent failure to retain documents relating to (Lord Archer) and failure to complete regular conciliation exercises has led to underpayments", the Standard said. The situation is said to have led to Archer splitting from Curtis Brown to be represented instead by MRM.

Archer is also seeking a court declaration that his deal with Curtis Brown was legally ended in March last year.

His latest deal with Macmillan, negotiated through Curtis Brown, was for the first four books in a planned eight-part series announced in The Bookseller in March.

It is understood that Archer and Curtis Brown president Jonathan Lloyd were in daily contact throughout their working relationship and that this is the first time Curtis Brown has faced a lawsuit on this issue in its 120-year history.

A spokesperson for Curtis Brown told The Bookseller: "We’re disappointed because we’ve had a successful relationship with Jeffrey for 17 years and have worked very hard for him, as we do for all our clients. But we entirely reject this claim and will defend it robustly."

Prior to joining Curtis Brown in 2002 Archer was represented by Deborah Owen, who retired in 2013. Archer has sold 4.18 million books for £28.1m in the BookScan era, with 2006‚Äôs False Impression (Pan Mac) his bestseller on 277,564 copies sold, according to Nielsen BookScan.

The Bookseller has contacted MRM for comment. Archer declined to comment on the story.

A spokesperson for Pan Macmillan said: "This relates to legal proceedings to which we are not a party and we therefore cannot comment."