Rebel Wilson is accusing three producers of her film “The Deb” who are suing her for defamation of interfering with her ability to do discovery in her own countersuit against the trio by filing a motion to quash service of a summons on a company partially owned by two of the producers.
Amanda Ghost and fellow producers Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden sued Wilson in Los Angeles Superior Court in July 2024 after Wilson allegedly told her 11 million Instagram followers that the producers of the film had engaged in theft, bullying and sexual misconduct. “The Deb” is a 2024 film that was Wilson’s directorial debut and was filmed in her native Australia. Ghost has also filed her own separate individual defamation action against Wilson.
Wilson, 45, has filed a countersuit in the original underlying case that accuses the producers of a “troubling pattern” of “theft, bullying and sexual misconduct” while also contending that they inflated the film’s budget and split the extra money between themselves.
Wilson’s countersuit names as a co-defendant Unigram Media Ltd., in which Ghost and Cameron, who are married, are minority owners. Wilson is opposing a plaintiffs’ motion to quash the service of summons on grounds a California court has no jurisdiction over the company.
The producers’ attorneys contend that Unigram is a British company with no California ties and therefore should be removed as a defendant.
“There is no reasonable nexus between Unigram and California,” according to the court papers of the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Camille M. Vasquez, who previously represented Johnny Depp in his defamation action against his ex-wife, Amber Heard.
But Wilson’s attorneys dispute the producers’ jurisdiction argument.
“Unigram’s claim that it has nothing to do with California and that this court has no personal jurisdiction over them falls flat in light of this admission by its agents and the facts … showing extensive presence and work within California both pre- and post-production of the film at issue,” Wilson’s attorneys state in their court papers.
Wilson’s attorneys note that the producers sued Wilson in a California court.
“Where Ghost, Cameron, and Holden go and have consented to personal jurisdiction over them, so go the companies on whose behalf they were acting during the relevant time frames and activities,” Wilson’s lawyers further argue in their pleadings.
In defending herself against the producers’ claims, Wilson is entitled to conduct discovery, present evidence and argue to a jury that Ghost acted inappropriately with an actress in “The Deb” — allegedly by wanting to take a shower or bath with her — and that Ghost, Cameron, and Holden embezzled money from the film budget,” according to the Wilson lawyers’ court papers.
“If plaintiffs wanted this matter adjudicated in Australia, they would have filed the case in Australia,” the Wilson attorneys state in their pleadings. “They didn’t. Now they should be stuck with their choices and judicial admissions that jurisdiction and venue are proper here, and that the actions occurred, in whole or in part, in the county of Los Angeles.”
In November 2024, the judge denied Wilson’s dismissal motion in the producers’ underlying case and his ruling is under appeal. Wilson is citing the state’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute. The law is aimed at stopping people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.