Reprinted from Deadline Hollywood by David Robb on November 20, 2020.
A federal judge has denied the WGA’s request for an eight-week continuance of a hearing date on CAA’s and WME’s motions for a preliminary injunction that would force the guild to drop its group boycott against the agencies.
“We are gratified that the court denied the WGA’s request to delay the preliminary injunction hearing, and adopted the briefing schedule we and WME had proposed,” said Richard Kendall, CAA’s lead counsel on the case. “As we have repeatedly said, CAA is ready, willing, and able to meet with the WGA leadership and its counsel to work through any remaining issues to see if this matter can be resolved before the December 18 hearing that we requested. Otherwise, we look forward to meeting the WGA in court.”
Earlier this week, WGA attorney Casey Pitts asked U.S. District Court Judge Andre Birotte Jr. for the continuance, saying that “As counsel for CAA is aware, the timing of CAA and WME’s filing is extremely inconvenient for me. Since late January, my husband and I have planned to take off the week of Thanksgiving (Saturday, November 21 through Sunday, November 29) in order to celebrate a significant life milestone. I will not be working during that time. On November 5, 2020, during a phone call with CAA’s counsel Patrick Somers to discuss deposition timing, I informed Mr. Somers that I would be taking this time off. Many of my co-counsel are also unavailable next week. Stacey Leyton, Ethan Litwin, and Andrew Kushner will all be unavailable for portions of the holiday week.” …
