EXHIBIT C

EX-2.7 4 dex27.htm FORM OF EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT - LOREN W. WILLMAN Form of Employment Agreement - Loren W. Willman

EXHIBIT 2.7

 

EXHIBIT C

 

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

 

This Employment Agreement (the “Agreement”) between Recency Media USA, Inc. (“Recency Media”), a Delaware corporation and subsidiary of Recency Media, Inc. (“Recency”), also a Delaware corporation, and Loren Willman (“Employee”) is hereby entered into this              day of                     , 2003 (“Effective Date”).

 

R E C I T A L S

 

The following statements are true and correct:

 

As of the date of this Agreement, Recency Media, through its parent company, is engaged primarily in the business of providing information technology consulting and outsourcing services to organizations with complex information system and technology operations. References herein to “Recency Media.” are intended to include its parent or sister companies, as may be applicable in the circumstances.

 

Employee is and will be employed hereunder by Recency Media in a confidential relationship wherein Employee, in the course of his employment with Recency Media, is and will become familiar with and aware of information as to Recency Media’s customers, specific manner of doing business, including the processes, techniques and trade secrets utilized by Recency Media, and future plans with respect thereto, all of which will be established and maintained at great expense to Recency Media; this information is a trade secret and constitutes the valuable goodwill of Recency Media.

 

WHEREAS, on [November             , 2003], OnSite, Inc. (“OnSite”), Recency Media, and Recency entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), and, contemporaneously with the execution of this Agreement, such parties will close the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement;

 

Therefore, in consideration of the mutual promises, terms, covenants and conditions set forth herein and die performance of each, it is hereby agreed as follows:

 

A G R E E M E N T S

 

1. Employment and Duties

 

(a) Recency Media hereby employs Employee as its Vice President, Narrowcasting Technology. As such, Employee shall have responsibilities, duties and authority reasonably accorded to and expected of a vice president and will report solely and directly to the Chief Executive Officer. Employee hereby accepts this employment upon the terms and conditions herein contained and, subject to Section 1(c), agrees to devote his time, attention and efforts to promote and further the business of Recency Media.


(b) Employee shall faithfully adhere to, execute and fulfill all lawful policies established by Recency Media.

 

(c) Employee shall not, during the term of his employment hereunder, be engaged in any other business activity pursued for gain, profit or other pecuniary advantage if such activity interferes with Employee’s duties and responsibilities hereunder; however Employee shall not be prohibited from providing board of directors or advisory board functions to other companies provided such activity does not interfere with Employee’s duties and responsibilities hereunder. This foregoing limitation shall not be construed as prohibiting Employee from making personal investments in such form or manner as will neither require his services in the operation or affairs of the companies or enterprises in which such investments are made nor violate the terms of Section 3 hereof.

 

2. Compensation

 

For all services rendered by Employee, Recency Media shall compensate Employee as follows:

 

(a) Base Salary. Beginning on the Effective Date, the base salary payable to Employee shall be $140,000 per year, payable on a regular basis in accordance with Recency Media’s standard payroll procedures but not less than monthly.

 

(b) Incentive Performance Bonus. For fiscal year 2004 and subsequent fiscal years during the Employee’s employment with Recency Media hereunder, Employee shall be eligible to receive annual incentive bonuses of up to forty percent (40 %) of the amount of his base salary based upon such factors as are reasonably agreed to by Employee and Recency within the first 3 months after the Effective Date, including but not limited to the Employee’s individual performance and the Company’s performance.

 

(c) Incentive Stay-on Bonus. Recognizing the importance of Employee’s knowledge of both the narrowcasting industry and the OnSite business, as well as the need to provide an inducement to retain Employee, Employee shall be receive a one-time bonus in a lump sum amount of $ 30,000, provided employee remains employed at Recency Media for six (6) months from the Effective Date. This stay-on bonus shall be payable within the next two pay periods after the expiration of the above-referenced six (6) month period.

 

(d) Executive Perquisites, Benefits and Other Compensation. Employee shall be entitled to receive additional benefits and compensation from Recency Media in such form and to such extent as specified below:

 

(1) Participation for Employee in coverage for Employee and his dependent family members under health, hospitalization, disability, dental, life and other insurance plans that Recency Media may have in effect from time to time, benefits provided to Employee under this clause (1) to be at least equal to such benefits provided to other Recency Media executives.

 

(2) Reimbursement for all business travel and other out-of-pocket expenses reasonably incurred by Employee in the performance of his services pursuant to this Agreement. All

 

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reimbursable expenses shall be appropriately documented in reasonable detail by Employee upon submission of any request for reimbursement, and in a format and manner consistent with Recency Media’s expense-reporting policy.

 

(3) The applicable number of days of paid time off pursuant to the Recency Media Paid Time Off policy.

 

(4) Such other executive perquisites as may be available to or deemed appropriate for Employee by the Board and participation in all other Recency Media-wide employee benefits as available from time to time.

 

3. Restrictive Covenants

 

(a) Employee will not, during the period of his employment by or with any member of the Recency Media USA, Inc. and for a period of one (1) year immediately following the termination of his employment, for any reason whatsoever, directly or indirectly, for himself or on behalf of or in conjunction with any other person, persons, company, partnership, corporation or business of whatever nature:

 

(i) call upon, or cause others to call upon, any person who is, at that time, within 100 miles of where Recency Media or where any of its subsidiaries conducts business (the “Territory”), an employee of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) in a software development, sales representative or managerial capacity for the purpose or with the intent of enticing such employee away from or out of the employ of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries), provided that Employee shall be permitted to call upon and hire any member of his or her immediate family;

 

(ii) call upon, or cause others to call upon, any person or entity which is, at that time, or which has been, within one (1) year prior to that time, a customer of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) within the Territory for the purpose of soliciting or selling products or services in direct competition with Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) within the Territory;

 

(iii) call upon, or cause others to call upon, any prospective acquisition candidate, on Employee’s own behalf or on behalf of any competitor in the narrowcasting and/or software application business, which candidate was either called upon by Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) or for which Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) made an acquisition analysis, for the purpose of acquiring such entity; or

 

(iv) disclose customers, whether in existence or proposed, of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) to any person, firm, partnership, corporation or business for any reason or purpose whatsoever except to the extent that Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) has in the past disclosed such information to the public for valid business reasons.

 

Notwithstanding the above, the foregoing covenants shall not be deemed to prohibit Employee from acquiring as an investment not more than one percent (1%) of the capital stock of a competing business, whose stock is traded on a national securities exchange or over-the-counter.

 

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(b) Because of the difficulty of measuring economic losses to Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) as a result of a breach of one of the foregoing covenants and because of the immediate and irreparable damage that could be caused to Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) for which it would have no other adequate remedy, Employee agrees that the foregoing covenants may be enforced by Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) in the event of breach by him, by injunctions and restraining orders.

 

(c) It is agreed by the parties that the foregoing covenants in this Section 3 impose a reasonable restraint on Employee in light of the activities and business of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) on the date of the execution of this Agreement and the current plans of Recency Media; but it is also the intent of Recency Media and Employee that such covenants be construed and enforced in accordance with the changing activities and business of Recency Media throughout the term of this covenant. For example, if, during the term of this Agreement, Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) engages in new and different activities, enters a new business or establishes new locations for its current activities or business in addition to or other than the activities or business enumerated under the Recitals above or the locations currently established therefore, then Employee will be precluded from soliciting the customers or employees of such new activities or business or of such new location within 100 miles of its operating location(s) through the term of this covenant.

 

It is further agreed by the parties hereto that, in the event that Employee shall cease to be employed hereunder, and shall enter into a business or pursue other activities not in competition with Recency Media (including its subsidiaries), or engage in similar activities or business in locations the operation of which, under such circumstances, do not violate another provision of this Section 3, Employee shall not be chargeable with a violation of this Section 3 if Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) shall thereafter enter the same, similar or a competitive (i) business, (ii) course of activities or (iii) location, as applicable.

 

(d) The covenants in this Section 3 are severable and separate, and the unenforceability of any specific covenant shall not affect the provisions of any other covenant. Moreover, in the event any court of competent jurisdiction shall determine that the scope, time or territorial restrictions set forth are unreasonable, then it is the intention of the parties that such restrictions be enforced to the fullest extent which the court deems reasonable, and the Agreement shall thereby be reformed.

 

(e) All of the covenants in this Section 3 shall be construed as an agreement independent of any other provision in this Agreement, and the existence of any claim or cause of action of Employee against Recency Media (including its subsidiaries), whether predicated on this Agreement or otherwise, will not constitute a defense to the enforcement by Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) of such covenants. It is specifically agreed that the period of one (1) year stated at the beginning of this Section 3, during which the agreements and covenants of Employee made in this Section 3 shall be effective, shall be computed by excluding from such computation any time during which Employee is in violation of any provision of this Section 3.

 

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4. Term, Termination, Rights on Termination

 

The term of this Agreement shall begin on the Effective Date and continue for one year (the “Initial Term”); provided, that if neither party has delivered written notice of its intent to terminate within (30) days of the Initial Term, this Agreement shall continue in effect on a month to month basis. This Agreement and Employee’s employment may be terminated in any one of the following ways:

 

(a) Good Cause. Recency Media may terminate the Agreement ten (10) days after written notice to Employee for good cause, which shall be: (1) Employee’s willful, material and irreparable breach of this Agreement; (2) Employee’s negligence in the performance or intentional nonperformance (continuing for ten (10) days after receipt of written notice of need to cure) of any of Employee’s material duties and responsibilities hereunder which materially and adversely affects the operations or reputation of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries); (3) Employee’s willful dishonesty, fraud or misconduct with respect to the business or affairs of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) which materially and adversely affects the operations or reputation of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries); or (4) Employee’s conviction of a felony crime. In the event of a termination for good cause, as enumerated above, Employee shall have no right to any severance compensation.

 

(b) Without Good Cause. Should Employee be terminated without good cause by Recency Media or Recency Media fails to extend this Agreement without good cause, Employee shall receive, (i) one (1) times Employee’s then current Base Salary plus (ii) one (1) times Employee’s most recent bonus earned (the “Termination Payment”). The Termination Payment shall be payable over a one (1) year period, with regular payments being made in accordance with Recency Media’s standard payroll procedures but not less than monthly. Any amounts payable to Employee pursuant to this Section 4(b) shall be contingent upon Employee’s execution of an effective general release of claims in the form determined by Recency Media, which in any event shall be substantially in the form attached to this Agreement as Exhibit A. It is specifically understood and agreed that, in the event Employee’s employment is terminated without good cause, Employee executes such general release of claims, Recency Media shall in all circumstances be required to pay the Termination Payment to Employee, regardless of whether Employee has obtained other employment following such termination and Employee shall be under no duty to mitigate such amount or take any action to lessen Recency Media’s liability for such payment, which is intended to be absolute. Further, any termination without good cause by Recency Media shall automatically reduce the restrictive covenant period set forth in Section 3(a) from one (1) year to six (6) months from the date of termination.

 

In the event Employee is terminated without good cause pursuant to this Section 4(b), Employee’s stock options and other stock awards shall become fully vested and exercisable and Employee shall have, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any relevant option or stock award agreements, one hundred eighty (180) days within which to exercise any vested options, after which any options not exercised by Employee would be forfeited; provided, however, if Employee is terminated without good cause pursuant to this Section 4(b) upon or within one (1) year following a Change in Control (as defined in Section 11(e) hereunder), Employee shall have, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any relevant option or

 

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stock award agreements, one (1) year within which to exercise any vested and outstanding options, to the extent permitted by the underlying agreements governing the Change in Control, after which any options not exercised by Employee would be forfeited.

 

At any time after the Effective Date, Employee may, without good cause, terminate this Agreement and Employee’s employment, effective thirty (30) days after written notice is provided to Recency Media. If Employee voluntarily resigns or otherwise terminates his employment without good cause pursuant to this Section 4(b), (i) Employee shall receive twenty-five percent (25%) of the Termination Payment as described in Section 4(b) above; and (ii) notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any relevant option or stock award agreements, Employee shall have ninety (90) days within which to exercise any previously vested and outstanding options, after which any such options not exercised by Employee will be forfeited.

 

(c) Change in Control of Recency Media. Refer to Section 11 below.

 

(d) Other Provisions. Upon termination of this Agreement for any reason described above in this Section 4, Employee shall be entitled to receive all compensation earned and all benefits and reimbursements due through the effective date of termination. Additional compensation subsequent to termination, if any, will be due and payable to Employee only to the extent and in the manner expressly provided above or in Section 11. All other rights and obligations of Recency Media and Employee under this Agreement shall cease as of the effective date of termination, except that Recency Media’s obligations under Section 8 herein and Employee’s obligations under Sections 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 herein shall survive such termination in accordance with their terms.

 

If termination of Employee’s employment arises out of Recency Media’s failure to pay Employee on a timely basis the amounts to which he is entitled under this Agreement or as a result of any other breach of this Agreement by Recency Media, as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction or pursuant to the provisions of Section 15 below, Recency Media shall pay all amounts and damages to which Employee may be entitled as a result of such breach, including arbiters thereon and all reasonable legal fees and expenses and other costs incurred by Employee to enforce his rights hereunder. Further, none of the provisions of Section 3 shall apply in the event this Agreement or the Employee’s employment hereunder is terminated as a result of a breach by Recency Media.

 

5. Return of Company Property

 

All records, designs, patents, business plans, financial statements, financial records, manuals, memoranda, lists and other property delivered to or compiled by Employee by or on behalf of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) or their representatives, vendors or customers which pertain to the business of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) shall be and remain the property of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) and be subject at all times to their discretion and control. Likewise, all correspondence, reports, records, charts, advertising materials and other similar data pertaining to the business, activities or future plans of Recency Media (including its subsidiaries) which is collected by Employee shall be delivered promptly to Recency Media without request by it upon termination of Employee’s employment.

 

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6. Inventions

 

Employee shall disclose promptly to Recency Media any and all significant conceptions and ideas for inventions, improvements and valuable discoveries, whether patentable or not, which are conceived or made by Employee, solely or jointly with another, during the period of employment or within one (1) year thereafter, and which are directly related to the business or activities of Recency Media and which Employee conceives as a result of his employment by Recency Media. Employee hereby assigns and agrees to assign all his interests therein to Recency Media or its nominee. Whenever requested to do so by Recency Media, Employee shall execute any and all applications, assignments or other instruments that Recency Media shall deem necessary to apply for and obtain Letters Patent of the United States or any foreign country or to otherwise protect Recency Media’s interest therein.

 

Employee understands the provisions of California Labor Code 2870 set forth below:

 

(a) Any provision in an employment agreement which provides that an employee shall assign, or offer to assign, any of his or her rights in an invention to his or her employer shall not apply to an invention that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer’s equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information except for those inventions that either:

 

(1) Relate at the time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the employer’s business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of the employer; or

 

(2) Result from any work performed by the employee for the employer.

 

(b) To the extent a provision in an employment agreement purports to require an employee to assign an invention otherwise excluded from being required to be assigned under subdivision (a), the provision is against the public policy of this state and is unenforceable.

 

7. Trade Secrets

 

Employee agrees that he will not, during or after the term of this Agreement with Recency Media, disclose the specific terms of Recency Media’s relationships or agreements with its significant vendors or customers or any other significant or material trade secret of Recency Media, whether in existence or proposed, to any person, firm, partnership, corporation or business for any reason or purpose whatsoever other than as required by law or to attorneys or accountants or other agents of the Company.

 

8. Indemnification

 

In the event Employee is made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by Recency Media against Employee), by reason of the fact that he is or was performing services for a member of the Recency Media USA, Inc. (whether or not under this Agreement), then Recency Media shall indemnify and hold harmless the Employee against all expenses (including attorneys’

 

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fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement, as actually and reasonably incurred by Employee in connection therewith. In the event that both Employee and Recency Media are made a party to the same third-party action, complaint, suit or proceeding, Recency Media agrees to engage competent legal representation, and Employee agrees to use the same representation, provided that if counsel selected by Recency Media shall have a conflict of interest that prevents such counsel from representing Employee, Employee may engage separate counsel and Recency Media shall pay all attorneys’ fees and costs of such separate counsel. Further, while Employee is expected at all times to use his best efforts to faithfully discharge his duties under this Agreement, Employee cannot be held liable to Recency Media for errors or omissions made in good faith where Employee has not exhibited gross, willful and wanton negligence and misconduct or performed criminal and fraudulent acts which materially damage the business of Recency Media.

 

9. No Prior Agreements

 

Employee hereby represents and warrants to Recency Media that the execution of this Agreement by Employee and his employment by Recency Media and the performance of his duties hereunder will not violate or be a breach of any agreement with a former employer, client or any other person or entity. Further, Employee agrees to indemnify Recency Media for any claim, including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees and expenses of investigation, by any such third party that such third party may now have or may hereafter come to have against Recency Media based upon or arising out of any non-competition agreement, invention or secrecy agreement between Employee and such third party which was in existence as of the date of this Agreement.

 

10. Assignment, Binding Effect

 

Employee understands that he has been selected for employment by Recency Media on the basis of his personal qualifications, experience and skills. Employee agrees, therefore, he cannot assign all or any portion of his performance under this Agreement. Subject to the preceding two (2) sentences and the express provisions of Section 11 below, this Agreement shall be binding upon, inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the parties hereto and their respective heirs, legal representatives, successors and assigns.

 

11. Change in Control.

 

(a) Employee understands and acknowledges that Recency Media may be acquired by, merged or consolidated with or into another entity and that such entity shall automatically succeed to the rights and obligations of Recency Media hereunder.

 

(b) In the event of a pending Change in Control (as defined below) wherein Recency Media and Employee have not received separate written notice at least five (5) business days prior to the anticipated closing date of the transaction giving rise to the Change in Control from the successor to all or a substantial portion of Recency Media’s business and/or assets that such successor is willing and able as of the closing to assume and agree to perform Recency Media’s obligations under this Agreement in the same manner and to the same extent that Recency Media is hereby required to perform, then such Change in Control shall be deemed to be a termination of this Agreement by Recency Media without good cause and the applicable portions of Section 4(b)

 

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will apply; however, under such circumstances, the amount of the severance payment due to Employee (a) shall be payable in a lump-sum payment as soon as practical after termination, and (b) the restrictive covenants and other provisions of Section 3 shall not apply whatsoever.

 

(c) In the case of any Change in Control, Employee may, at his sole discretion, elect to terminate this Agreement by providing written notice to Recency Media at least two (2) business days prior to the anticipated closing of the transaction giving rise to the Change in Control. In such case, the applicable provisions of Section 4(b) will apply as though Recency Media had terminated the Agreement without good cause; however, under such circumstances, the amount of the severance payment due to Employee (a) shall be payable as soon as practical after termination and (b) the restrictive covenants and other provisions of Section 3, if applicable, shall all apply for a period of six months from the effective date of termination of this Agreement.

 

(d) For purposes of applying Section 4 under the circumstances described in (b) and (c) above, the effective date of termination will be the closing date of the transaction giving rise to the Change in Control and all compensation, reimbursements and lump-sum payments due Employee must be paid in full by Recency Media at or prior to such closing. Further, Employee will be given sufficient time and opportunity to elect whether to exercise all or any of his vested options to purchase Recency Media Common Stock, including any options with accelerated vesting under the provisions of Recency Media’s 1998 Long-Term Incentive Compensation Plan, such that he may convert the options to shares of Recency Media Common Stock at or prior to the closing of the transaction giving rise to the Change in Control, if he so desires.

 

(e) A “Change in Control” shall be deemed to have occurred in the event of any one of the following:

 

(i) The consummation of a merger or consolidation of Recency Media with or into another entity or any other corporate reorganization, if more than 50% of the combined voting power of the continuing or surviving entity’s securities outstanding immediately after such merger, consolidation or other reorganization is owned, directly or indirectly, by persons who were not stockholders of Recency Media immediately prior to such merger, consolidation or other reorganization (including for this purpose any increase in ownership in connection with such merger, consolidation or other reorganization by a person who was a stockholder of Recency Media immediately prior to such merger, consolidation or other reorganization);

 

(ii) The sale, exchange, lease, transfer or other disposition of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets;

 

(iii) A change in the composition of the Board, as a result of which fewer than one-half of the directors.

 

(iv) Any transaction as a result of which any person is the “beneficial owner” (as defined in Rule 13d-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). directly or indirectly, of securities of Recency Media representing at least 30% of the total voting power represented by Recency Media’s then outstanding voting securities. For purposes of this

 

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Paragraph (iv), the term “person” shall have the same meaning as when used in sections 13(d) and 14(d) of such Exchange Act but shall exclude:

 

(x) A trustee or other fiduciary holding securities under an employee benefit plan of Recency Media or a subsidiary of Recency Media; and

 

(y) A corporation owned directly or indirectly by the stockholders of Recency Media in substantially the same proportions as their ownership of the common stock of Recency Media.

 

A transaction shall not constitute a Change in Control if its sole purpose is to change the name of the company, the state of Recency Media’s incorporation or to create a holding company that will be owned in substantially the same proportions by the persons who held Recency Media’s securities immediately before such transactions.

 

(f) Employee must be notified in writing by Recency Media at any time if a Change in Control becomes likely or probable.

 

12. Complete Agreement

 

This Agreement is not a promise of future employment. Employee has no oral representations, understandings or agreements with Recency Media or any of its officers, directors or representatives covering the same subject matter as this Agreement. This written Agreement is the final, complete and exclusive statement and expression of the agreement between Recency Media and Employee and of all the terms of this Agreement, and it cannot be varied, contradicted or supplemented by evidence of any prior or contemporaneous oral or written agreements, This written Agreement may not be later modified except by a further writing signed by a duly authorized officer of Recency Media and Employee, and no term of this Agreement may be waived except by writing signed by the party waiving the benefit of such term.

 

13. Notice

 

Whenever any notice is required hereunder, it shall be given in writing addressed as follows:

 

To Recency Media:

   Recency Media, Inc.
     100 Theory Suite 200
     Irvine, California 92612

To Employee:

   Loren Willman

 

Notice shall be deemed given upon personal delivery or effective three (3) days after the deposit in the U.S. mail of a writing addressed as above and sent first class mail, certified, return

 

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receipt requested, or when actually received. Either party may change the address for notice by notifying the other party of such change in accordance with this Section 13.

 

14. Severability; Headings; Changes in Law

 

If any portion of this Agreement is held invalid or inoperative, the other portions of this Agreement shall be deemed valid and operative and, so far as is reasonable and possible, effect shall be given to the intent manifested by the portion held invalid or inoperative. The Section headings herein are for reference purposes only and are not intended in any way to describe, interpret, define or limit the extent or intent of the Agreement or of any part hereof. Any references in this Agreement to statutes, regulations, or other laws, or any portion thereof, shall be deemed to include any amendments or succeeding provisions.

 

15. Arbitration

 

Any unresolved dispute or controversy arising under or in connection with this Agreement shall be settled exclusively by arbitration, conducted before a panel of three (3) arbitrators in Irvine, California, in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association then in effect. The arbitrators shall not have the authority to add to, detract from, or modify any provision hereof nor to award punitive damages to any injured party. The arbitrators shall have the authority to order back-pay, severance compensation, vesting of options and other stock awards (or cash compensation in lieu of vesting of options and other stock awards), reimbursement of costs, including those incurred to enforce this Agreement, and interest thereon in the event the arbitrators determine that Employee was terminated without good cause, as defined in Section 4(a), or that Recency Media has otherwise materially breached this Agreement. A decision by a majority of the arbitration panel shall be final and binding. Judgment may be entered on the arbitrators’ award in any court having jurisdiction. The direct expense of any arbitration proceeding shall be borne by Recency Media.

 

16. Attorney’s Fees

 

Recency Media agrees that it shall be financially responsible for the payment of any attorney’s fees and related costs incurred by Employee in the course of negotiating or preparing this Agreement (including any amendments, exhibits, supplemental documents, related documents, or superceding agreements) or subsequently in advising Employee of, or assisting Employee in the defense of, his rights under this Agreement (including any amendments, exhibits, supplemental documents, related documents, or superceding agreements).

 

17. Governing Law

 

This Agreement shall in all respects be construed according to the laws of the State of California.

 

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18. Counterparts

 

This Agreement may be executed simultaneously in two (2) or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original and all of which together shall constitute but one and the same instrument.

 

19. Offset

 

Notwithstanding anything herein, to the extent Employee has any monetary obligation or liability to Recency Media or any of their affiliates, including without limitation, any indemnification obligations arising under the Merger Agreement, Recency Media has the right to offset such amounts against any bonus, severance payment or other amounts payable to Employee hereunder.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this Agreement as of the day and year first above written.

 

RECENCY MEDIA
By:    
 

Name:

 

James R. Lavelle

Title:

 

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer &

President

 

EMPLOYEE:
 

Loren Willman

Vice President, Narrowcasting Technology

 

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