• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 15, 2019

A Colorado judge has closed a $20 million-plus law suit against Crispin Porter Bogusky by a former top creative, Ralph Watson.

He was fired last year in the wake of anonymous allegations of sexual harassment by Diet Madison Avenue, a group that uses a Twitter feed to out alleged sex harassers in the ad biz.

Watson sued the agency in Colorado last year for wrongful termination, defamation and related charges stemming from his dismissal.

CPB argued for dismissal of the lawsuit, asserting that Watson agreed to arbitrate all disputes related to his employment with the agency, per the terms of his employment contract.

The shop has petitioned the U.S. District Court in New York to rule that the case should go to arbitration.

“The Court finds that rather than leaving this case open for possibly months pending the resolution of the New York case, this case should be administratively closed,” the Colorado Judge, Christine Arguello, wrote in an order earlier this week. “The parties shall have leave to file a request to reopen, or shall file a motion to dismiss, within 14 days of the resolution of the New York case.”

Watson has also sued Diet Madison Avenue in both California and New York.

Earlier this month, the judge hearing the LA case denied requests by those behind the DMA effort (they remain anonymous for now) to quash subpoenas ordering Instagram, Facebook and Gmail to provide the plaintiff information about them.