Appeals court hears 'The Pitt' producers' plea to kill 'ER' lawsuit
Actor Noah Wyle attends an event for HBO’s “The Pitt” at the David Geffen Theater on June 9, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for HBO)
A medical TV show’s drama has spilled over to the courtroom, as an attorney for the producers of The Pitt told a California appeals court on Tuesday that the popular show is a unique work that cannot be sued on free speech grounds.
Courthouse News Service has the story.
The statement came in response to a lawsuit by the estate of the late novelist Michael Crichton, the owner of the rights to ER, an earlier medical TV series that ran from 1994 to 2009. The estate claims that Warner Bros.’ producers borrowed heavily from ER to create The Pitt after negotiations with the novelist’s widow broke down in 2023. The estate sued producers over breach of contract.
The shows include various connections to each other, including the cast and the production team, according to Courthouse News Service. Actor Noah Wyle, who is a defendant in the suit, played Dr. John Carter in ER and now plays Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch in The Pitt.
Although the producers filed an anti-SLAPP motion, a move used to dismiss litigation against protected speech, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Wendy Chang denied the motion.
Attorney Theodore Boutrous, representing the producers, asked a three-judge panel in the California Courts of Appeal to reverse that decision, claiming that the shows have similarities because they are of the same genre.
Judge Curtis Karnow, a San Francisco Superior Court judge who was sitting in pro tem, expressed some skepticism over whether Warner Bros.’ argument was appropriate and said the question boils down to whether the similarities qualify as derivative.
Along with Karnow, the panel included California Courts of Appeal Presiding Justice Rashida Adams and California Courts of Appeal Justice Mark Hanasono.
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