West Hollywood Events Planning Company Sued For Defamation

LOS ANGELES, CA -- An event planner Friday sued a former colleague who teamed with her to stage the weddings of Reese Witherspoon and Natalie Portman, alleging she is the victim of defamation and an attempt to sabotage her company's reputation.

Yifat Oren and her company, Oren Enterprises Inc., filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Stefanie Cove and her firm, Stefanie Cove and Co. The suit's other allegations include breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets and that Cove put her interests ahead of those of Oren. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Reached by phone, Cove said she was unaware of the lawsuit and declined to comment.

The suit states that Oren hired Cove in 2009 while the defendant was working at a Colorado ski resort. Oren trained Cove in the event planning business, introduced her to longtime clients and promoted her to managing partner, the suit states.

In 2016, at Cove's request, discussions began concerning a possible buyout and Oren rebranded the company OrenCove at significant expense, the suit states.

But unknown to Oren, Cove was "simultaneously undercutting, bad- mouthing and defaming Oren to clients, vendors and employees" in an attempt to sabotage the plaintiff's reputation and promote herself as the "genius" behind OrenCove, the suit alleges.

Buyout talks began to stall in the fall, when Cove secretly copied Oren Enterprises' entire database containing confidential client and vendor information, the suit states.

Cove then resigned in December, took with her all the data and tried to use her iPhone to wipe out evidence of her conduct, the suit alleges.

Two weeks later, Cove started Stefanie Cove and Co. and "immediately began pirating Oren Enterprises' clients and vendors to poach ongoing and future business," according to the lawsuit.

"Sure enough, a lucrative client abruptly cancelled her contract with Oren Enterprises and signed with (Cove and Co.) shortly after the company's inception," the suit states.

Cove has defamed Oren by telling clients and other third parties that the plaintiff is "bipolar," "crazy" and "(epithet) up," causing Oren and her company a "loss of reputation and shame," the suit states.

Oren and Cove planned the weddings for Portman and Witherspoon, according to Departures.com. Oren's website states that her other clients include celebrity couples Amy Adams and Darren LeGallo as well as Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, plus former couple Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman.

-- City News Service, photo via Shutterstock