In a long-awaited ruling, a judge has found that CAA did not steal a TV show idea from a writer to give to a higher-profile client.
But Judge Kerry Bensinger also found that the agency has an obligation to be faithful and honest to clients, and may have breached that duty when it placed the writer on a secret list of underperformers.
John Musero, the writer in question, sued the agency back in 2019, claiming that his agent, Andrew Miller, stole his idea for a show about the attorney general entitled “Main Justice.” Another Miller client, Sascha Penn, later sold a pilot to CBS for an attorney general show also called “Main Justice.” Though the pilot was produced, the show was not picked up.
Musero’s lawsuit alleged that there were many similarities between the two pilot scripts. Both opened with a car crash and closed with an assassination attempt on the attorney general. Both also had terrorism subplots and included an analogy between the justice system and refereeing in basketball.
Musero, a former in-house counsel at Columbia Pictures, previously worked on the Aaron Sorkin show “The Newsroom.” He argued that his “Main Justice” script was written in a Sorkin-esque, “West Wing” style and that Penn’s script had adopted the same sensibility.
The judge found that Musero could not claim Penn had copied the “West Wing” style from him, finding it more plausible that both writers had taken it from “The West Wing.”
“The style and pacing of each ‘Main Justice’ project is attributable to the same influential television show — ‘The West Wing,’” Bensinger wrote. “Further, in a legal-political project such as a DOJ television drama, the ‘West Wing’ style is a common type of presentation.”
The judge also ruled that most of the other similarities are unprotectable, and also found conclusive evidence that Penn had independently authored his script before Musero submitted his script to his agent.
“CAA is gratified by the judge’s ruling, dismissing John Musero’s claim that CAA misappropriated his idea for a pilot,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “Andrew Miller has always operated with integrity. He is a world-class agent whose track record of success speaks volumes about his diligence, expertise, care and concern for the best interests of his clients. We are pleased to finally move on from these baseless accusations.”
In 2016, CAA placed Musero on its “underperforming writers” list and its “cutting” list — without telling him that he was in danger of being dropped. Musero argued that his agents effectively stopped working diligently on his behalf, harming his career, and that amounts to a breach of fiduciary duty.
In their motion for summary judgment, CAA’s lawyers said they had found “no authority to support that a talent agent or agency owes a duties of fidelity and honesty to clients” and that therefore the “blacklisting” claim should be thrown out.
Bensinger balked at that notion.
“Defendants are hard pressed to argue the proposition that a talent agent can act dishonestly, disloyally, and contrary to their client’s best interests with impunity,” Bensinger wrote, adding that a talent agent does have a “duty to act with the utmost good faith in the best interests of his client.”
Whether CAA failed to uphold that duty with respect to Musero will be up to a jury to decide. Musero will have to show that he suffered damages from the alleged blacklisting in order to prevail. A trial is scheduled for Oct. 27.
Bensinger’s ruling was issued to the parties on April 1. A redacted version was made public Wednesday.
Musero’s lawyers have sought to unseal certain records, while CAA has sought to keep its internal conversations confidential, particularly regarding the underperforming writers list and the cutting list. When the two sides argued over the summary judgment motion on March 21, the courtroom was sealed.
