Latest in Hollywood lawsuit

UPDATED with statement from Fisher attorney: In a nearly empty courtroom on Monday, Judge Laura A. Matz of the Los Angeles County Superior Court's Glendale branch signed a rush order making sure the public won't see one of Carrie Fisher's less welcome performances: That is, a video-recorded deposition about her role…

Dave Hester can move forward with the wrongful termination portion of his wide-ranging lawsuit against A&E and the producers of Storage Wars, a judge ruled today. In a hearing Tuesday in LA Superior Court, Judge Michael Johnson rejected the network's free speech related attempt to dismiss the wrongful termination…

Days after yet another round of filings in the Black Swan interns' class action, Fox Searchlight and Fox Entertainment Group got some traction and some status quo out of the overseeing federal judge. The traction this week came out of Judge William Paley III granting (read the order here) the Fox companies' June 25th r…

A seasoned assistant film editor has filed a complaint of harassment, gender discrimination and wrongful termination against Walt Disney Pictures and Muppets movie editor James Thomas. "Defendants retaliated against Plaintiff, created a hostile work environment and treated Plaintiff differently because she was an…

The heirs of Old Hollywood continue to want today's studios to pay up. Legendary horror movie actor Lon Chaney Jr's family today went after Universal in the courts for more than $1 million in damages. In a nine-page breach of contract and other claims complaint (read it here) filed Monday in LA Superior Court, Chaney…

Room With A View filmmakers Merchant Ivory and Janus Films have come to a deal in the production company's legal action against the Criterion Collection distributers. While no details of the settlement were made public, a federal judge in New York signed off Wednesday on the dismissal (read it here) of the case…

Over a year after Nicollette Sheridan saw her wrongful termination suit against Desperate Housewives ended in a mistrial, the actress today got a new trial date. Sheridan and defendants Touchstone Television will be back in court on December 2, LA Superior Court judge Michael Stern ruled today. Stern's ruling came…

Luber Roklin Entertainment today sued Stephen Crawford for allegedly telling his clients not to pay commissions to his former employer once he moved to a new firm. In the three-claims complaint (read it here) the management company says that the trouble started when Crawford left LRE after five years on March 31, 2012…

A Superior Court judge today formally dismissed most of an $8 million lawsuit against Steven Tyler’s lawyer by the former American Idol judge's former managers. Kovac Media Group/Tenth Street Entertainment had claimed in their suit filed back in October that attorney Dina LaPolt has played both sides and had messed up…

A&E says that it isn't Storage Wars that's fake but the lawsuit from Dave Hester. A month and a half after Hester called the hit reality series a staged "fraud on the public and filed suit against the network and Storage Wars producers for more than $750,000, A&E fired back late last week. And they made their response…

Maybe the movie should have been called ‘No Courtroom For Old Men’. WME has pulled the plug on its legal efforts to get Tommy Lee Jones to pay up nearly $2 million in owed commissions. The California State Labor Commissioner ruled last October that Jones owes the agency $1.95 million from his role in No Country For Old…

Paramount Pictures and Melrose 2 have come to a settlement in the $375 million fraud lawsuit the investors had with the studio. “The dispute was satisfactorily resolved,” a Paramount spokesman told Deadline today. No details of the settlement were made public in court filings Friday but Paramout intends to seek a full…