A lawsuit brought by a former member of the board of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, alleging his membership was wrongfully terminated, should be dismissed because it is legally deficient and part of a “smear campaign” against the organization, HFPA attorneys state in new court papers.
Plaintiff Magnus Sundholm, a journalist for the Swedish daily Aftonbladet, alleges in his breach-of-contract/wrongful discharge suit filed Dec. 8 in Los Angeles Superior Court that HFPA’s ending of his membership in October deprived him of benefits he received as a member.
The HFPA board accused Sundholm, a member since 2008, of “fraudulent, illegal conduct that was contrary to the interests of the HFPA,” according to the complaint. But Sundholm maintains he erroneously misidentified himself on an IRS form submitted in connection to his filing a whistleblower complaint against the HFPA and that the organization used the mistake as an excuse to fire him for having brought the complaint.
Sundholm also ties his removal to a backlash for the actions of his partner, Kjersti Flaa. The Norwegian journalist brought an antitrust suit against the organization in 2021 in which she alleged that within the HFPA there is a “culture of corruption” in which qualified candidates are barred from joining.
But in their court papers filed Thursday, the HFPA lawyers maintain the lawsuit is “the latest in a smear campaign” by Sundholm against the HFPA for denying Flaa’s admission into the organization.
“Previously, as part of that campaign, Mr. Sundholm falsely represented to the IRS, under penalty of perjury, that he had authority to act on behalf of and bind the HFPA in matters before the IRS,” the HFPA attorneys state in their court papers. “This was not true in any regard.”
The alleged smear campaign began earlier when the HFPA denied Flaa’s membership application and she subsequently sued the organization in federal court, “alleging the same unfounded claims and allegations that Mr. Sundholm now repeats in the instant action,” the HFPA lawyers state in their court papers.
When the HFPA did not invite Flaa to join as she had demanded, Sundholm then filed “a supposed whistleblower complaint with the IRS in which he baselessly claimed the HFPA had violated tax laws and was unlawfully funneling millions of dollars to its members,” according to the HFPA lawyers’ court papers.
The HFPA “refused to be shaken down and Mr. Sundholm and his companion’s crusade to harm the HFPA through a frivolous litigation, a whistleblower complaint and anonymous press leaks ultimately failed,” the HFPA attorneys further argue in their court papers.
Sundholm’s lawsuit “fails to assert a single legally cognizable cause of action, instead spending pages upon pages asserting false and irrelevant allegations,” the HFPA attorneys state in their court papers.
But Sundholm maintains the HFPA has not removed other members who have violated the organization’s bylaws for not following the organization’s rules, including being critical of the organization.
The HFPA’s dismissal motion is scheduled for a hearing May 24 before Judge Wendy Chang.
Last August, the HFPA passed a set of reforms aimed at diversifying its ranks after media reports surfaced in early 2021 about the organization’s demographics and conduct.