The United States District Court of Arizona has thrown out World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) request to have charges that were filed by a former producer moved from the state level court to the federal level.
On September 18th, United States District Judge G. Murray Snow, held that the lawsuit, filed against WWE and “Big Show” Paul Wight, should be returned to the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Arizona, where it was originally filed in April 2013.
Andrew Green, a road producer for WWE, alleges in the suit that he suffered damages when Big Show attacked him, without provocation, as he (Mr. Green) was trying to arrange to have Big Show appear for a scheduled on-camera interview.
The assault, which was caught on tape, was originally requested by WWE to be seen by the Federal Court System, as the WWE and their attorney’s argued that it involved “Federal Copyright Laws” and the infringement thereof. The assault was caught on camera, and was uploaded to the WWE’s website (perhaps by Mr. Green) and it was spun that this was part of Wight’s (Big Show) “ironclad contract” storyline once the WWE realized the footage was on their site and had already been watched over half a million times.
Hartley Bernstein (Counsel for Mr. Green and his wife) argued that the issue wasn’t about federal copyright infringement, but rather about the mental anguish and physical damage he suffered when attacked by Wight. Green stated he was emotionally humiliated when he saw the footage posted online. The presiding judge in the case, Judge Snow, stated that “freedom from ridicule and emotional distress” are the rights in which Mr. Green and his family are entitled to, and that the attack on him (Mr. Green) is not copyright infringement, as the cameras that recorded the incident were manned by WWE employees, and thus do not follow under said entitlement.
As Judge Snow explained: “This additional element of emotional harm, due not to unauthorized use but widespread humiliation, changes the nature of the action from a copyright claim to a separate state-law tort claim.”
The Greens are represented by Hartley Bernstein of the New York law firm, Bernstein Cherney LLP and George Mueller of the Mueller Law Group, P.A. in Phoenix Arizona.
As for what will happen to Paul Wight, the suit doesn’t state any charges against Wight in which the Green family want him arrested or otherwise, but rather, they are seeking damages from the WWE, including emotional distress. When the incident happened, Big Show was absent from a few shows, and word is, if WWE loses a lot of money in this case, Paul Wight may be absent from anything that was once left of his career.
