A judge indicated Tuesday that he is poised to allow a former “Let’s Make a Deal” production worker who alleges Fremantle Productions North America Inc. terminated him in 2025 partly because he converted to Buddhism is entitled to have his case heard by a jury rather than an arbitrator.
However, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steven A. Ellis did not adopt his tentative ruling and instead took the issues under submission. Plaintiff Britton Courtney’s lawsuit causes of action include wrongful termination, religious discrimination and harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and various state Labor Code violations.
Ellis heard a first set of arguments on Fremantle’s motion to compel arbitration in late April. However, because Fremantle introduced new evidence in its reply to Courtney’s opposition to the arbitration motion, the judge gave the plaintiff another hearing on Tuesday to respond to the additional facts.
In their court papers, Fremantle attorneys state that the arbitration agreement is “objectively reasonable and provides a fair and complete mechanism for resolving disputes, including the employment-related claims plaintiff (asserts) in the complaint.”
But in a sworn declaration filed in opposition to the arbitration motion, Courtney, now 51, says he was told he would not be paid for season 15 unless he signed all the required documents put before him, including an arbitration agreement embedded within the production policy manual.
“I was not given an opportunity to negotiate the terms of any of these documents,” Courtney says. “No one from management sat down with me to explain what arbitration meant, that it was included in what I signed, that I was waiving my right to a jury trial or that the arbitration provision would purportedly apply to future seasons of employment.”
In his tentative ruling, the judge said that in previous years the parties had simultaneously signed multiple agreements, including an arbitration agreement and a deal memorandum with an integration clause.
But in 2024, Fremantle presented Courtney only with a deal memorandum containing an integration clause and no other documents or agreements were executed by the parties, the judge said.
A deal memo, or deal memorandum, is a concise, legally binding document summarizing the essential terms and conditions of a proposed business, investment or employment arrangement. An integration clause is a provision in a deal memorandum or contract that states the document represents the final, complete and only binding agreement between the parties.
According to Courtney’s suit, he was hired in December 2020 as a warehouse assistant for the “Let’s Make a Deal” production and converted to Buddhism about four years later.
One Fremantle manager said, “We want the old Britton back,” signaling what the plaintiff believed was a hostility or aversion to his new religious identity and the values associated with it, according to the complaint.
That same year, he spoke out about safety, including the warehouse being overcrowded with equipment and prize merchandise, leaving dangerously narrow aisles that did not meet basic safety standards for operating forklifts or other machinery, the suit states.
In addition, forklifts and other heavy machinery were not being properly inspected or maintained, the suit alleges.
Courtney also believed he was not being paid in accordance with a union contract, the suit further states. In response to his complaints, management told him to take time off to “reflect on his actions,” according to the suit, which further states that he was later told the forced time off was due to his tardiness and absenteeism.
Courtney returned to work in January 2025 and was subjected to increased management scrutiny, but he continued to speak out and sent an email about his concerns to “higher-ups,” the plaintiff alleges.
“He further stated that he felt he was being targeted for his religious beliefs, referencing the fact that management seemed uncomfortable with his Buddhist-driven outlook and had made dismissive comments about it,” the suit further states.
On Jan. 31, 2025, the same day he sent management an email regarding his concerns about alleged discrepancies in his wages given the union contract, Courtney was terminated, the suit states. The suit filed last Oct. 17 further states that supervisors used the excuse that the forks on a forklift had damaged a prize several days earlier as an excuse to strip him of his job.