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Courthouse Steps
CASE CAPTION: Ruben Mellado, individually and as a private attorney general, v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., a division of Time Warner Entertainment Co., L.P., L. A. Superior Court # BC304678.
CAUSES OF ACTION: Unfair business practices in violation of Calif. Bus. & Prof. Code Sec. 17200, et seq.; wrongful termination; and defamation.
COMPLAINT ALLEGATIONS: The plaintiff was a system delivery lead for the defendant's financial contract systems team. His responsibilities included reviewing participation statements for the payment of residuals, royalties and other fees. He was asked to validate a statement for the film “The Exorcist” but was unable to do it because of errors in the records or transactions that the plaintiff discovered relating to the years 1973 and 1974 that affected more than 140 additional titles/works. Despite knowing about the problem since about 1999 or 2000, Warner has continued to rely on the erroneous statements. In September 2003, the plaintiff was fired without any prior warnings. This was based on his reporting of the errors “which potentially subjected Warner Bros. to enormous liability for payments to artists, actors, directors, writers and other individuals and/participants entitled to payments from Warner Bros. for the use of their works.” The plaintiff was defamed by the pretextual statements given for his firing ' that he wasn't doing things he was instructed to do.
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