While Lionsgate Films Inc. awaits a hearing later this month on its motion to be removed as a co-defendant in an actor’s sexual assault/battery lawsuit against the studio and Tyler Perry, the plaintiff is seeking nearly $12,000 in sanctions from the studio for allegedly stalling in producing requested documents.
Mario Rodriguez appeared in “Boo! A Madea Halloween” and accuses the filmmaker and studio mogul of leveraging his power in Hollywood to make sexual advances. Rodriguez’s Los Angeles Superior Court suit was amended on April 21, shortly after attorneys for the 56-year-old Perry and Lionsgate filed court papers with Judge Brock T. Hammond in which the studio asked for dismissal of Rodriguez’s one claim against Lionsgate for negligent retention.
The amended complaint supersedes the original filed Dec. 26 and adds a negligence claim against the studio. The judge will hear Lionsgate’s latest dismissal motion on June 23. But on Friday, Rodriguez’s attorney filed court papers with the judge asking that he order Lionsgate to produce the documents requested on April 7 and sanction the studio $11,760.
“When Plaintiff raised the failure, Lionsgate’s counsel asserted for the first time, nearly two months after service and a month after responses came due, that the April 7 mail service was ineffective and demanded that plaintiff stipulate to a June 4 service date,” Rodriguez’s lawyers state in their court papers.
“In other words, instead of accepting responsibility and working toward a solution, (Lionsgate) asserts blame and invites a fight,” Rodriguez’s lawyer states in his court papers. “No statute or decision supports their position.”
Rodriguez’s attorney is asking Lionsgate to turn over 25 categories of documents which they say are central to Rodriguez’s claims, including Lionsgate’s contracts with Perry, documents concerning morality clauses and the studio’s control over Perry’s productions as well as documents related to Lionsgate’s knowledge of and response to allegations of misconduct by Perry.
Lionsgate’s responses were due May 12, the Rodriguez’s lawyer further states in his court papers.
Perry is represented by the same attorneys as Lionsgate and the lawyers previously filed a response to the suit on behalf of Perry denying Rodriguez’s claims and contending the plaintiff suffered no damages.
“Plaintiff fabricates a story based on a decade’s worth of falsehoods, misrepresentations and outlandish claims that have no basis in fact or law and no merit,” the defense attorneys write in their court papers, adding that Rodriguez is “manipulating the judicial system in a last ditch effort to shake down Perry to further fund his profligate lifestyle after years of seeking out Perry for money.”
Rodriguez’s amended complaint is a “transparent money grab,” according to the defense attorneys’ pleadings.