Kevin Hart's Company Takes Legal Loss in Effort to Shield Fight With Ex-Employees From Public

Kevin Hart's company was shut down in its effort to keep a legal battle with two former employees out of the public eye and handled in private arbitration ... TMZ has learned.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ, a Los Angeles Superior County Court judge denied Kevin's request to move his case against Eric Eddings and Lesley Gwam to arbitration, which would keep it out of the public court system.

The court found the agreements Eric and Lesley signed with Kevin's company, Hartbeat, had arbitration provisions but found that the ex-employees made a "persuasive showing" that the arbitration agreements were unconscionable and could not be enforced against them. As such, the judge denied Hartbeat's motion to move the case to arbitration.

As TMZ previously reported, Hartbeat sued Eric, who was hired in 2022, and Lesley, who was hired in 2023. The actor's company claimed the duo obtained confidential information about the company's podcast division while employed … and then turned around and started their own podcast company with the info.

Kevin claimed the duo used the info to create a pitch deck to raise millions for their new business. His lawsuit asked for an injunction prohibiting the ex-employees from launching their podcast business.