A judge has denied a motion by NBCUniversal Media LLC, Bravo Media LLC and Mountain View Productions LLC to force into arbitration the claims of a former “Below Deck” crew member who says the defendants covered up another cast member’s alleged sexual misconduct.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Wendy Chang issued her ruling regarding the claims made by plaintiff Grey Duddleston. He maintained the studios could not compel arbitration due to the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, which allows individuals who possibly have been the victim of sexual assault or harassment to choose to pursue their claims in court rather than being bound by a mandatory arbitration agreement.
Chang heard arguments on the motion Jan. 20 and took the case under submission prior to ruling on Friday.
Duddleston and Samantha Suarez filed the lawsuit in March 2025 against the entities as well as the other cast member, Gary King, whom they allege is a “known drunkard and serial harasser.” The suit’s allegations include sexual battery, retaliation, harassment and negligent hiring, retention and supervision.
The show chronicles the lives of the crew members who work and reside aboard a super yacht during charter season. The studio attorneys contended that Duddleston signed an agreement with Mountain View in May 2022 in which he concurred that any work-related disputes would be addressed by an arbitrator rather than a jury, but the judge found otherwise.
“Here, the complaint demonstrates that Duddleston alleges conduct constituting a sexual harassment dispute,” Chang wrote. “The complaint alleges that when Duddleston learned of King’s attempt to sexually assault Suarez, he was understandably upset and immediately sent a text to Ryan Veerkamp (the show’s co-executive producer) expressing his outrage and demanding to know what production was going to do about King.”
The judge further notes that Duddleston alleges he saw King untie the bikini tops of two female cast members without their consent, make lewd remarks to a female audio technician and grab the genitals of two male camera operators.
In another hearing scheduled for April 28, defense attorneys want Suarez’s claims dismissed. The lawyers say Suarez, a Georgia resident, cannot sue in a California court because her claims involve alleged conduct by King on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, more than 6,000 miles away.
“A determination that Suarez can avail herself of California’s laws with these allegations would transform the California court system into the International Court of Justice … and encourage the very forum-shopping that resulted in the instant lawsuit,” the entities’ lawyers further contend.
In summer 2022 while filming “Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season Four,” Suarez was a hair-and-makeup artist and Duddleston a camera operator. According to the complaint, when Suarez went to King’s hotel room to drop off a case of water and snacks, he opened the door in his underwear and refused to take the water. Suarez claims she walked past King to put the water inside the room and on her way out, King allegedly lunged toward her and physically restrained her.
Suarez says she reported the encounter, but that King was not fired. Duddleston was Suarez’s boyfriend at the time.
After reporting King’s alleged misconduct with the crew’s walkie-talkie system, Duddleston was investigated for alleged inappropriate use of that system, the suit further alleges.
Suarez and Duddleston say they were both later terminated and that they remain “virtually unemployable in their field.”