SAG Slams Anti-Merger Lawsuit

The guild sees the suit as a sequel that will perform no better than a 2009 installment.

2:07 PM PST 2/22/2012 by Jonathan Handel

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SAG responded sharply to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by opponents seeking to derail the SAG/AFTRA merger referendum, blasting the suit as “completely without merit (and a) preposterous . . . attempt at circumventing the will of the membership.”

Anti-Merger Lawsuit Filed Against SAG and Officers

•Labor

The statement called the litigation “a public relations stunt that follows a clear pattern by some of the plaintiffs of filing unsuccessful lawsuits against their own union.” That’s a reference to former guild president Alan Rosenberg and current board member Anne-Marie Johnson, who are plaintiffs both in the current suit and in a 2009 action that spawned three separate court cases, all of which were unsuccessful.

Noting that today’s lawsuit fails to seek an immediate halt to balloting, SAG general counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told The Hollywood Reporter that the plaintiffs “probably don’t want to see their claims thrown out as quickly as last time.”

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