Legal professionals for Max’s “The Pitt” submitted a remaining briefing Monday in an try and defeat claims that the Emmy-winning present is a knockoff of “ER.” This marks the latest growth in a lawsuit introduced by “ER” creator Michael Crichton’s property in opposition to Warner Bros. in 2024.
In a reply temporary submitted Monday night time, the defendants — who additionally embrace producer John Wells and actor Noah Wyle — describe the proposition that “The Pitt” is a “by-product work of the “ER” as “baseless.”
“Plaintiff seeks to kill ‘The Pitt’ — and claims it ought to by no means have aired — primarily based on a plainly incorrect misreading of a single phrase in a 1994 contract that gave Crichton approval rights over ‘by-product works’ of ‘ER,’” the reply temporary reads.
Citing a scarcity of adequate proof, defendants’ state that “‘The Pitt’ comprises no protected parts from ‘ER’: except for sharing a style (hospital drama) and sure unprotectable, genre-specific tropes, like the usage of medical jargon, the 2 exhibits are nothing alike.
“Wyle definitely does not play the identical character,” it added.
The defendants’ additionally state that the the Crichton property filed this lawsuit earlier than “The Pitt” even debuted and that the property had “at one level thought-about, however finally deserted, the concept of constructing an ‘ER’ reboot that shared sure concepts with ‘The Pitt’ — similar to real-time pacing — that by no means appeared in ‘ER’ itself.”
The preliminary lawsuit accuses the producers of breach of contract, and claims that “The Pitt” was solely created as a result of a deal between the events to reboot the NBC medical drama fell aside.
The producers tried to throw out the property’s grievance below California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which is meant to guard free speech in opposition to frivolous litigation. A trial decide denied the movement, saying the property’s claims had sufficient benefit to proceed.
The producers appealed, arguing that the trial court docket didn’t apply the right customary and that below the anti-SLAPP statute, the plaintiff’s claims have to be struck until they’re discovered to be “each legally viable and supported admissible proof.”
The case now awaits oral argument earlier than the appellate court docket.
“The Pitt,” which earned 13 nominations for its first season final 12 months, completed airing its second season final month. The present has been renewed for a 3rd season on Max, with manufacturing slated to start in June.
