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Details have emerged about Kyle Sandilands' $88 million legal battle with his former employer ARN, after the radio network terminated his contract last Wednesday.
The ex-host of the KIIS FM Kyle & Jackie O show has reportedly filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the media giant in the Federal Court.
Sandilands, 54, was suspended earlier this month for 'serious misconduct' before his axing, following an on-air spat with Henderson on February 20.
An insider now says the shock jock will claim as part of his defence that he had no warnings from ARN management over the issue of how he spoke to his co-host.
The former king of the radio ratings will also argue that ARN 'promoted' their notorious on-air brawls.
'(There were) no warnings, whether formal or informal,' an insider revealed to news.com.au on Monday.
Details have emerged about Kyle Sandilands' $88 million legal battle with his former employer ARN, after the radio network terminated his contract last Wednesday. Pictured: Sandilands
'ARN promoted that kind of content and put it in social media snippets and played it across the network,' they said.
According to the report, Sandilands and his legal team are trawling through footage of The Kyle and Jackie O Show to argue that it was 'normal' for the pair to fight.
The insider also revealed that Sandilands is putting in regular invoices to ARN on the basis that his axing was 'invalid and opportunistic'.
Apparently, legal mediation is off the table as a way of resolving the conflict between ARN and Sandilands, says the source, because the radio star believes that there was no 'valid reason for his termination'.
Backed by a prominent legal team, Sandilands is claiming that ARN deliberately conspired to sabotage his $100 million, 10-year contract in a calculated attempt to exit the costly agreement after just over 14 months.
Sandilands' legal team is led by the 'ferocious' Kevin Lynch, a partner at Johnson Winter Slattery, according to The Australian.
Over the past two weeks, Lynch has carefully examined every detail of the host's agreement and strategised a comprehensive attack on ARN.
He filed the necessary papers on Friday.
Sandilands, 54, was suspended earlier this month for 'serious misconduct' before his axing, following an on-air spat with Henderson (pictured) on February 20
Sandilands is seeking his contract to be honoured in full.
On Monday morning, ARN issued a statement in an ASX market update, asserting that the network disputes Sandilands' claims and plans to defend the proceedings.
'The applicants claim the termination of Mr Sandilands' contract was invalid on the basis they allege that there was no act of serious misconduct or breach of contract, and that the termination was unconscionable under the Australian Consumer Law,' their statement read.
'The applicants seek an order for specific performance of two contracts, payment of whatever amounts are due and payable under the contracts at the time of judgment, and damages.'
Meanwhile, ARN's newly appointed CEO Michael Stephenson is working hard to prevent the legal dispute from escalating by trying to persuade Sandilands' former co-host, Jackie 'O' Henderson, to return to KIIS FM with a solo show.
However, ARN is hoping to bring back Henderson at a much lower rate with a new program, after the network also terminated her $100 million, decade-long deal last month.
The Australian reports that Henderson is not enthusiastic about that offer, while sources close to the former co-hosts indicate that she intends to watch how Sandilands' legal offensive unfolds.
The end of the Kyle & Jackie O show was announced last Wednesday when Sandilands released a statement at 7am announcing that KIIS' parent company, ARN, had terminated his 10-year, $100 million contract.
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