Actors’ union fights ex-Broadway impresario’s antitrust claims

(Reuters) – The Actors’ Equity Association has asked a U.S. judge to dismiss as “baseless” an antitrust lawsuit from a veteran theater producer who is tangled up in a labor dispute over his production of the “Paradise Square” musical that had a short run on Broadway.

In a court filing, lawyers for the union of more than 50,000 live-theater actors and stage managers said it was immune under federal law from producer Garth Drabinsky’s antitrust claims. The union’s attorneys at law firms Winston & Strawn and Cohen, Weiss and Simon asked U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield to throw out the case.

Drabinsky alleged last month that the union, known as Equity, and its members unlawfully agreed to add him to its “Do Not Work” list, a boycott that he said has reduced competition in violation of U.S. antitrust law.

The “Paradise Square” cast in July asked Equity to put Drabinsky’s name on the list amid claims of unpaid wages and health and retirement benefits.

U.S. law can shield some labor activity from antitrust liability “when a union, operating within traditional means, acts to achieve a union objective,” lawyers for Equity said in their court filing.

Equity’s attorneys said “putting individuals or businesses on do-not-work-lists is a quintessential example of a traditional union activity.”

Drabinsky’s production of “Paradise Square,” set in Civil War-era New York, ran from April to July last year and was his first Broadway show in more than a decade. It was billed in a New York Times media report as comeback show, following his fraud conviction in 2009 in Canada and subsequent five-year prison term. Drabinsky had been behind productions of hits including “Ragtime” and a revival of “Showboat.”

An attorney for Drabinsky, Richard Roth of the Roth Law Firm in New York, told Reuters that Equity’s bid to dismiss the antitrust case was “weak” and that he would respond further in court.

Lawyers for Equity on Wednesday did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

In his lawsuit, Drabinsky’s lawyers said his “injuries are of the type that antitrust laws were designed to prevent and redress, and are a direct result of the unlawful conspiracy to boycott [him].”

The complaint, which also alleges defamation, claimed that Equity’s “conduct has irreparably damaged Drabinsky” through lost profits, royalties and fees.

Equity’s lawyers in their Tuesday filing called Drabinsky a “single, disgruntled plaintiff whose inability to work with Equity members could not plausibly impact market competition.”

The judge previously denied Equity’s effort to pause evidence-gathering in the case pending her resolution of the motion to dismiss.

The case is Drabinsky v. Actors’ Equity Association, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 1:22-cv-08933-LGS.

For plaintiff: Richard Roth of The Roth Law Firm; Joshua Wright of Lodestar Law and Economics

For defendant: Susan Davis of Cohen, Weiss and Simon; Jeffrey Kessler of Winston & Strawn

Read more:

Law firm Winston wants $6.6 mln after U.S. women’s soccer equal-pay deal

Law firm Weil Gotshal takes second swing at Major League Baseball’s antitrust shield

Major universities assert antitrust immunity in financial aid case

Antitrust plaintiffs take another swipe at Chicago’s $1.1 bln parking-meter deal

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.