LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court has ruled that “ER” and “The Pitt” have enough similarities that a lawsuit filed by the widow and estate of Michael Crichton, creator of “ER” alleging that “The Pitt” is an unauthorized reboot can move forward.
A three-judge panel of California’s Second District Court of Appeal ruled unanimously Wednesday that the trial court judge was correct in denying a motion to dismiss the case from “The Pitt” production company Warner Bros. Television, which also produced “ER.” But the judges rejected Noah Wyle – the star of both shows and producer on “The Pitt” – as a defendant along with two other producers who worked on both series.
The lawsuit is a clash between the creators of several Emmy Award-winning television series, each among the most important and acclaimed shows of their era.
Crichton, the author of “Jurassic Park” and numerous other novels that became hit films and TV shows, wrote the pilot script for “ER,” the NBC show about a Chicago emergency room that redefined the medical drama genre and attracted tens of millions of weekly viewers between 1994 and 2009.
Sherri Crichton’s lawsuit was filed two years ago, before a single episode of “The Pitt” aired. The HBO Max series that shows a real-time day in the life of a Pittsburgh emergency room has since become perhaps the most lauded television series, winning two Emmys for best drama for its first two seasons and two best actor Emmys for Wyle.
Besides more technical legal questions, the judges had to decide whether the shows had at least the minimal similarity that would give the lawsuit enough merit to move forward. Their ruling only applies to this first legal challenge and they did not rule on whether the plaintiffs had proven that “The Pitt” was a derivative of “ER.”
The court agreed with the plaintiff that “both shows provide commentary on the health care system; they focus specifically on the emergency room and the harsh conditions in which medical personnel work. Both shows take place, with few exceptions, in the emergency room, unlike other medical shows that follow patients as they leave the emergency room, or never even enter.”
The notice also states that both feature “very fast pacing and reactions to multiple, overlapping crises. The rapid-fire dialogue is (to a layman) often incomprehensible shorthand and jargon, giving an air of immediacy and correctness.”
Warner Bros. Television said in a statement that “WBTV continues to maintain that ‘The Pitt’ is an entirely original series and that the allegations against it are without merit. Nothing in the Court of Appeal’s decision establishes otherwise, and WBTV looks forward to defending its position as the case moves forward.”
The defendants argued in their legal filings that the shows had “generic similarities” that would exist in “any dramatic story” featuring “overworked doctors and staff.”
The panel also unanimously dismissed as defendants Wyle, John Wells, who created “The Pitt” and worked on “ER,” and R. Scott Gemmill, an executive producer of “Pitt” who also worked on both shows. The judges found there was no evidence that the three men knew about the provisions of Crichton’s contract that the lawsuit alleges they interfered with.
Sherri Crichton’s lawsuit alleges that “The Pitt” is a renamed version of an unauthorized reboot of “ER” that she rejected.
Her husband had obtained a coveted “frozen rights” clause in his contract for the series, prohibiting Warner Bros. to proceed with sequels, remakes, spin-offs or other derivative productions of “ER” without the consent of Crichton, or that of his estate after his death from cancer in 2008.
After the production company was unable to reach an agreement with Sherri Crichton on a proposed reboot of “ER,” the television studio began developing and producing a series based on the same premise without authorization, according to the lawsuit.
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