A Los Angeles court has ruled against Terrence Howard's 2023 lawsuit targeting talent agency CAA, which he accused of mishandling contract negotiations for his lead role in the Fox series Empire. Howard alleged that CAA failed to disclose that it represented multiple parties involved in the production, including the show's creators, and used this conflict of interest to convince him to accept substantially lower compensation than comparable actors had secured elsewhere.

The judge dismissed the case on structural grounds, determining that Howard's claimed financial harm was too uncertain to proceed to trial. Because Howard received payment through his own loan-out company rather than directly, any salary increase would have primarily benefited the corporation, making actual damages difficult to calculate. The court also noted that Fox had consistently rejected all attempts to renegotiate Howard's contract, suggesting that higher terms might never have been achievable in any case.