NEW YORK — An appeals courtroom on Tuesday rejected an enchantment by a Tony Award-winning producer who claims {that a} union for actors and stage managers organized an unlawful boycott that prevented him from producing dwell Broadway exhibits.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan dominated that the producer, Garth Drabinsky, couldn’t proceed together with his $50 million lawsuit alleging that the Actors’ Equity Association violated antitrust and varied state legal guidelines, together with defamation.
The union represents over 50,000 theater actors and stage managers.
Luke Hasskamp, a lawyer for Drabinsky, declined to remark.
Drabinsky, 74, whose hits embrace “Ragtime” and a 1994 revival of “Show Boat,” claimed in his lawsuit that the union engaged in an illegal marketing campaign of defamation and harassment by spreading rumors about him, instituting a one-day work stoppage and placing him on its Do Not Work listing to discourage anybody from working with him.
“So long as the union’s conduct promotes legitimate labor goals, it retains the benefit of the labor exemption and remains impervious to antitrust liability,” the three-judge 2nd Circuit panel stated in a choice written by Judge Raymond J. Lohier Jr.
The courtroom stated Equity engaged within the boycott “precisely to protect its members’ wages and working conditions” after solid members of the musical “Paradise Square” objected to unsafe situations on set, a racially hostile work atmosphere and unpaid wages. It famous that Drabinsky claimed he lacked management over wages and dealing situations, though his lawsuit alleged he managed hiring, firing and pay in the course of the manufacturing.
Al Vincent Jr., government director of the Actors’ Equity Association, stated the union was “glad the court agreed with every single argument that we made and concluded that Drabinsky’s lawsuit was meritless.”
He stated the ruling “will serve Equity and the labor movement well in the future with respect to the right to use the Do Not Work list against employers that harm our members.”
“We are happy to put this behind us,” Vincent added. “Our mission is to protect actors and stage managers from employers like Drabinsky, and no amount of intimidation will deter us.”
“Paradise Square,” which explored racial battle between Black Americans and Irish immigrants amid the 1863 Civil War race riots in New York City, closed on Broadway in July 2022 after 23 previews and 108 performances. Drabinsky’s “Ragtime” ran for 2 years on Broadway.
Drabinsky, a Canadian, was sentenced in August 2009 to seven years in jail in that nation for fraud convictions by a choose who stated he and one other producer submitted false monetary statements to buyers to misrepresent their firm’s monetary situation.
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Source: www.hindustantimes.com
