A three-judge panel sides with the Crichton estate against Warner Bros. Television but drops three defendants who it found were unaware of the contract provisions.
A California appeals court has allowed a lawsuit by the estate of Michael Crichton to move forward. The suit claims the HBO Max series "The Pitt" is an "unauthorized reboot" of the NBC show "ER", The Associated Press reported, as cited by Australasian Lawyer and Canadian Lawyer.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal in California unanimously sided with Crichton and the trial court judge, rejecting Warner Bros. Television's bid to have the suit thrown out. The panel said both shows take place, with little exception, in the emergency room. The judges also noted that the two shows shared "very fast pacing, and reactions to multiple overlapping crises." The defendants countered that the similarities were generic ones found in all dramatizations of the lives of overloaded medical professionals and staff.
Sherri Crichton, Michael Crichton's widow, filed the suit two years previously, according to the reports. She alleged that "The Pitt", which debuted last year, was a rebrand of a pitched reboot she had shot down. Michael Crichton wrote the pilot script for "ER", and his contract included a "frozen rights" provision banning Warner Bros. from making sequels, remakes, spinoffs or "ER"-derivative works without approval from him or his estate, according to the reports. He died in 2008.
The appeals court dropped defendants it determined were unaware of the provisions in the contract, based on lack of evidence: Noah Wyle, John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill. Both series were produced by Warner Bros. Television, and "The Pitt" is heading into its third season on HBO Max.
