Three women who worked in the props department for the first and only season of “Dr. Odyssey” have dropped their lawsuit against 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and two Disney entities in which the plaintiffs alleged they were subjected to an “unlawful den of sexual harassment and retaliation.”
Attorneys for plaintiffs Caroline Mack, Alicia Haverland and Ava Steinbrenner filed court papers with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Nicholas F. Daum on June 24 asking that their clients’ case be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. The court papers do not state whether a settlement was reached or if the women are not pursuing the case for other reasons.
In their previous court papers, attorneys for Fox and Disney denied the women’s allegations and cited multiple defenses, including that their claims belonged in the workers’ compensation arena.
The plaintiffs were hired in late spring/early summer 2024 to work in the props department on the “Dr. Odyssey” Season 1 project. The defendants also hired Tammie Patton as the prop master and her husband, Tyler Patton, as the assistant prop master and both Patons supervised the plaintiffs.
The defendants knew when Tyler Patton was hired that prior allegations of sexual harassment had been lodged against him as well as accusations of sexual harassment, intoxication and engaging in sex on set when he was a supervisor in the props department for the Fox television series “House,” the suit stated.
Disney and Fox also were aware that a lawsuit had been filed against Tyler Patton and others, including the producer of “House,” and the allegations were widely publicized in the media, the suit further stated.
“The props department under Tammie Patton and Tyler Patton was an unlawful den of sexual harassment and retaliation,” according to the women’s suit.
Tyler Patton and his male buddies subjected the plaintiffs to an “unchecked campaign of sexual harassment for months” and Tammie Patton not only ignored the harassment, she and other managers/supervisors retaliated against the women for complaining about Tyler Patton’s sexually harassing conduct, safety issues and her mistreatment of the trio, the suit alleged.
In July 2024, Tyler Patton sent the plaintiffs and others a link appearing to reference a news story that former President Biden was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, but when the women clicked on the link, they were sent to a webpage showing a naked male, leaving the plaintiffs feeling “shocked,” the suit stated.
Tyler Patton was eventually terminated, according to the suit.
Ultimately, Disney and Fox retaliated against the plaintiffs for their complaints by manufacturing a layoff of props department employees in 2024 in order to avoid having to deal with the unlawful conduct about which the women had objected, the suit further alleged, while adding that the companies nonetheless hired “a whole new set of employees” to replace them on the “Dr. Odyssey” project.