The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has won dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit brought by a Norwegian entertainment reporter who alleged the organization known for the Golden Globe awards excluded her from membership because she might compete with an existing member, according to court papers obtained Thursday morning.
Kjersti Flaa alleged in her Los Angeles federal court complaint that the HFPA runs the foreign entertainment reporting market like an exclusive club and is unwilling to share the “enormous economic benefits” that membership provides with anyone it deems a competitive threat.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld first dismissed the lawsuit in November, but gave Flaa an opportunity to amend her complaint. She and another journalist refiled the complaint in December, but in a ruling Tuesday, Blumenfeld rejected the case again, this time without leave to amend.
The judge held that the amended complaint was “creative but implausible” and “hopelessly muddled.”
Blumenfeld wrote that “many of the allegations in the original and amended complaint stand immovably in the way of stating a viable antitrust claim. In these circumstances, leave to amend is not warranted.”
According to the complaint, the HFPA is required to benefit all members of the class of workers it represents — foreign entertainment reporters who reside in Southern California — equally, without regard to whether they are members.
“Through fortuitous circumstance, the HFPA’s 87 members have been able to monopolize the foreign entertainment reporting market in `the Entertainment Capital of the World’ — Los Angeles,” the complaint alleged. “Remarkably, they have accomplished that feat at the taxpayers’ expense — and that (among other things) makes their activities unlawful.”
The HFPA’s annual Golden Globes telecast is viewed by Hollywood studios as “a way to build momentum for a successful Oscar campaign,” according to Flaa’s court papers.
As a consequence, according to the plaintiffs, HFPA members are invited to attend press junkets, film festivals and “set visits around the world at no expense to themselves (and are freely allowed to accept the studios’ largesse).” Interview slots with news-making actors, directors, producers, screenwriters and other industry professionals are reserved for members, who are paid “lavish sums of money to provide nominal services” to the association, the suit says.
However, in his dismissal, Blumenfeld held that it is not the HFPA but Hollywood studios that control access to celebrity interviews.
Flaa is described as a video correspondent for various Scandinavian media outlets, and operates a YouTube channel featuring celebrity interviews. She says she applied for membership in the HFPA twice, and had sponsorship from current members, but her applications were rejected.
According to her suit, two Scandinavian HFPA members campaigned against Flaa’s membership because they were afraid their “monopoly” on Hollywood coverage would be affected.