Latest in Lawsuit

Producer Michael Shamberg's lawsuit against the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences and its governing board will go forward, as Judge H. Jay Ford of the Los Angeles County Superior Court this morning said he will overrule the Academy's demurrer in the case. Shamberg has been asking the court to rule that he…

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed today in Ventura County Court on behalf of the four-year-old son of drowning victim Naya Rivera, claiming the county failed to adequately warn swimmers of the dangers at Lake Piru. The suit comes four months after the July 8 death of the Glee actress, who was swimming in Ventura…

If Saturday Night Live can do it, why not Off Broadway? That’s one of the arguments in a lawsuit filed by six small New York theaters and two comedy clubs against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over the city’s ongoing pandemic shutdown of such venues. The lawsuit filed in United…

Veteran Los Angeles news anchor Jeff Michael sued KCBS-TV on Friday, alleging the station breached his contract and discriminated against him based on health issues. Michael was co-anchor of KCBS-TV Channel 2's newscasts at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. for more than three years. The Emmy Award-winning anchor joined KCBS in early…

TikTok, the rapaciously growing social media platform controlled by ByteDance, disclosed the size and surge of its user base for the first time in a lawsuit filed Monday against President Donald Trump. Privately held ByteDance, founded by Chinese internet entrepreneur Zhang Yiming, revealed it has 100 million monthly…

Beyonce and Jay-Z face a copyright infringement lawsuit in Los Angeles for allegedly using a monologue voiced by an uncredited Jamaican choreographer for their 2018 track “Black Effect” without permission, according to court papers obtained today. In the suit, filed late Tuesday in federal court, dancer Lenora Stines…

A federal judge has delivered a victory to CNN in its defense against a $435 million libel lawsuit filed by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA). U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne wrote that the Richmond, VA court “is not Nunes’ home forum, and therefore there is no logical connection between the events in this case and this…

UPDATED with CBS and Gavshon responses: Cassandra Vinograd, a London-based associate producer with 60 Minutes, has sued CBS Broadcasting for allegedly retaliating against her after she complained about the conduct of her boss, producer Michael Gavshon. CBS News said later this afternoon it is reviewing the action and…

David Goodfriend, founder of controversial not-for-profit outfit Locast, said the parent companies of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox “waited too long” to sue him over the alleged theft of their signals. He also questioned why they didn’t seek a temporary restraining order to halt the two-year-old company’s operations, as they…

The four major U.S. broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — have joined together to file a lawsuit against Locast, a non-profit organization that enables local TV streams. Locast is accused of attempting to gather customer data and advance commercial interests, despite presenting itself as a non-profit “Robin…

Three months ago, I supposed the next great movie newsroom drama would look more like Absence of Malice than All The President's Men. Who knew that Clint Eastwood, filmdom's Great Disruptor, would so soon be on his way to making sense of that supposition? Just last week, Warner Bros. confirmed that Eastwood was poised…

UPDATED with Netflix statement below: A former Netflix division manager filed a lawsuit against the company Tuesday, alleging she was fired after announcing her pregnancy. In a 35-page complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court (read it here), Tania Zarak says she began working for the streaming giant as a manager…