Appeals Court Keeps Crichton Estate's Suit Against The Pitt Alive

A California appeals court allowed a copyright lawsuit filed by the estate of Michael Crichton to advance against the production company behind The Pitt.

The ruling was issued on Wednesday by a unanimous three-judge panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal. The judges determined that the trial court correctly denied a motion by Warner Bros. Television to dismiss the case. The lawsuit was filed by Sherri Crichton, who argues that The Pitt is an unauthorized reboot of her late husband's creation, ER. Warner Bros. Television produced both series.

The court focused on whether the two programs shared enough specific similarities to support the legal claim. The panel agreed with the plaintiff that both shows center on the emergency room and the difficult conditions faced by medical staff. The opinion noted that both series maintain a very fast pace and deal with multiple overlapping crises. The judges described the dialogue as shorthand and jargon that lends an air of immediacy and accuracy. Warner Bros. argued that these were generic similarities found in any dramatic story about overworked doctors.

The judges also dismissed three individual defendants from the suit. Noah Wyle, the star of both series and a producer on The Pitt, was removed from the case. John Wells, who created The Pitt and worked on ER, and R. Scott Gemmill, an executive producer on The Pitt, were also dropped. The panel found no evidence that these three men knew the specific provisions of the Crichton contract that the lawsuit alleges they interfered with.

The legal conflict stems from a frozen rights provision in Crichton's original contract. This clause prevented Warner Bros. from creating sequels, remakes, or spinoffs without Crichton's consent or, after his death in 2008, his estate's approval. Crichton wrote the pilot for ER, an NBC medical drama that ran from 1994 to 2009. Sherri Crichton filed the suit two years ago, before any episode of The Pitt aired on HBO Max. The series has since won two Emmys for best drama and two for best actor for Wyle.

Emails seeking comment on the ruling were sent to lawyers for Warner Bros.