The court battle between Colt Cabana and CM Punk is not over just yet.
PWInsider reports that Cabana has filed a second lawsuit against Punk after the first lawsuit was dismissed last month.
Cabana previously sued Punk for $1.2 million in August, alleging that Punk agreed to pay for Cabana's legal fees but "suddenly" demanded Cabana pay over $250,000. Cabana accused CM Punk of being the reason he had to seek other legal counsel in the June trial against WWE doctor Chris Amann.
The original lawsuit stated that CM Punk (real name, Phil Brooks) was in breach of contract in regards to paying for Colt Cabana's (real name, Scott Colton) legal costs. Documents attached to the original lawsuit had text messages and emails where Punk said Cabana's legal costs would be covered and Punk's attorney (The Loeb Firm) would be taking care of the situation.
On Nov. 26, the court sided with Punk, determining that Cabana’s allegations did not meet the standard required by law in the State of Illinois and that he failed to show that anything Punk had done was done with deliberate intent to defraud him. The court also ruled that nothing Cabana had shown was a contract that could be enforceable by law.
Cabana was allowed to re-file as the dismissal was not done with prejudice.
The new lawsuit is alleging that Punk made statements on the infamous 2014 Thanksgiving episode of Cabana's podcast the Art of Wrestling, knowing that WWE would likely come after him legally. Cabana is also claiming that he agreed to help Punk in the legal battle against Amann in exchange for Punk paying his legal bill. As part of that agreement, he agreed not to cooperate with any of Amann’s demands.
Cabana now claims that had Punk not entered into an agreement with him, Cabana would have “complied with each of Amann’s demands in the Demand Letter” and would not have assisted or cooperated in Punk’s defense in the Amann lawsuit. He also claims that had it not been for the agreement between the two, he would have hired his own lawyer to pursue a settlement with Amann and “in the event such a settlement agreement was effectuated, would have ceased to assist or cooperate in Brooks’ defense in the Amann lawsuit.”
In the amended lawsuit, Cabana states that Punk paid all the legal bills through late April 2016, at which point Cabana alleges that he received an email from Punk regarding a financial bill Punk had received from his legal representatives. Punk wrote, "To date I have spent $513,736 dollars on this Amman lawsuit. My outstanding bill is at least 300K. Half of all this is yours. Divide the 513,736 by 2 that is what you owe me and what I expect you to pay me. Starting now, I will no longer be paying your bills. You are on your own. Whatever my bill is currently, will be cut in half and half will be yours. If you choose to make this all ugly, that's fine too. I hope you won't, but I gave up on you doing what is right a long time ago."
Cabana is now asking for damages of at least $200,000 from Punk and is seeking jury trial.
Punk is required to respond to the lawsuit by Dec. 28.
