ALCH v. SUPERIOR COURT

Nos. B165638, B166009, B170564, B170629.

19 Cal.Rptr.3d 29 (2004)

122 Cal.App.4th 339

Cecile ALCH, et al., Petitioners, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Los Angeles County, Respondent; Time Warner Entertainment, et al., Real Parties in Interest. Hindi Brooks et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. William Morris Agency, Inc., et al., Defendants and Respondents. Hindi Brooks, et al., Petitioners, v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Respondent; William Morris Agency, Inc., Real Party in Interest. Cecile Alch, et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. Time Warner Entertainment, et al., Defendants and Respondents.

Court of Appeals of California, Second District, Division Eight.

Review Denied December 22, 2004.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Sprenger & Lang, Paul C. Sprenger, Steven M. Sprenger and Daniel Wolf; Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers, Dolly M. Gee and William T. Payne; Kator, Parks & Weiser and Maia Caplan; AARP Foundation Litigation, Thomas W. Osborne, Daniel B. Kohrman and Laurie A. McCann; and Robert S. Gerstein, for Petitioners and for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

No appearance for Respondent Superior Court.

Munger, Tolles & Olson, Vilma S. Martinez, Glenn D. Pomerantz, Mark H. Epstein, Allison B. Stein and Malcolm A. Heinicke for Real Parties in Interest and for Defendants and Respondents Universal Television, Incorporated, Universal Television Entertainment, Inc., Universal Television Enterprises, Inc., Universal Television Enterprises Productions, Inc., Universal Studios Network Programming f/k/a Brillstein Grey Entertainment, Fox Entertainment Group, Inc., Fox Broadcasting Company, Twentieth Television, Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Television, a division of Twentieth Century Fox International Television, Inc., Regency Television LLC, and The Greenblatt Janollari Studio, Inc.

Irell & Manella, James N. Adler, Henry Shields, Jr. and Harry A. Mittleman, for Real Parties in Interest and for Defendants and Respondents National Broadcasting Company, Inc., and NBC Studios, Inc.

O'Melveny & Myers, Gordon E. Krischer, Apalla U. Chopra, Eric Amdursky and Adam J. Karr for Real Parties in Interest and for Defendants and Respondents The WB Television Network Partners, L.P., Warner Bros. Television Production, a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P., and Castle Rock Television, Inc.

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, Paul Grossman, J. Al Latham, Jr., and Michele A. Freedenthal for Real Parties in Interest and for Defendants and Respondents The Walt Disney Company, ABC, Inc., Miramax Film Corp., Walt Disney Pictures and Television, Touchstone Television Productions, LLC, and Buena Vista Television.

Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, William L. Cole, Patricia H. Benson, Kevin E. Gaut, Adam Levin and Seth E. Pierce for Real Party in Interest and for Defendant and Respondent Columbia Tristar Television, Inc.

White O'Connor Curry & Avanzado, James E. Curry and Mary Catherine Woods for Real Parties in Interest and for Defendants and Respondents Studios USA, LLC, and USA Networks, Inc.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, George A. Stohner, Robert Jon Hendricks and Nicole A-J. Gustafson; Grace E. Speights and Anne M. Brafford; and Thomas M. Peterson and Emily Cope, for Real Parties in Interest and for Defendants and Respondents Viacom, Inc., Dreamworks SKG TV LLC, The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC, Carsey-Werner Productions, LLC; Paramount Studios; CBS Broadcasting, Inc., Spelling Entertainment Inc., Spelling Television Inc., Spelling Daytime Television Inc., Aaron Spelling Productions, Inc., Big Ticket Television, Inc., and Big Ticket Productions, Inc.

Rintala, Smoot, Jaenicke & Rees, William T. Rintala, Michael B. Garfinkel and Heather M. Noelte for Defendant and Respondent and Real Party in Interest William Morris Agency, Inc.

Knee & Ross and Howard Knee for Defendant and Respondent The Irv Schechter Company.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Nancy P. McClelland and Lisa A. Barr for Defendant and Respondent International Creative Management, Inc.

Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman Machtinger & Kinsella, Ann Kane Smith and Daniel P. Hoffer for Defendants and Respondents Paradigm Talent & Literary Agency and Shapiro-Lichtman, Inc.

Epstein, Turner & Song, Lawrence J. Song and Jonathan Turner for Defendant and Respondent The Gersh Agency, Inc.

Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan, Marcia J. Harris, Mary Lee Wegner and David B. Dreyfus for Defendant and Respondent Broder Webb Chervin Silberman Agency (formerly Broder Kurland Webb Uffner Agency, Inc.).

Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil & Shapiro, Patricia L. Glaser, Mark L. Block and Allison S. Hyatt for Defendant and Respondent The Endeavor Agency, Inc.

Proskauer Rose, Anthony J. Oncidi, Harold M. Brody, Christine de Bretteville and Russell A. Wetanson for Defendant and Respondent Creative Artists Agency, LLC.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, Phyllis Kupferstein and Erika Lynn Kleiman for Defendant and Respondent United Talent Agency, Inc.

Kaye Scholer, Robert Barnes, J. Andrew Sjoblom and J. Raymond Warner for Defendant and Respondent Agency for the Performing Arts, Inc.

Brad Seligman and Jocelyn D. Larkin for The Impact Fund, Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, Equal Rights Advocates, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Legal Aid Society — Employment Law Center and Public Advocates, Inc., as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioners and Plaintiffs in B165638 and for Plaintiffs and Appellants in B166009.


BOLAND, J.

SUMMARY

These appeals and writ petitions involve 23 separate class action lawsuits filed by hundreds of television writers against (a) 12 different groups of related television networks, studios and production companies (collectively, employers or networks and studios), and (b) 11 talent agencies. The writers, who are over the age of 40 and members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), assert that each of the networks and studios has for many...

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