My point of view is this: we don’t know what evidence Carano has collected. If she does have evidence that backs up her claims, then there may be others also who may join in and have additional evidence also, which I would establish, for a lack of a legal term, a pattern of behavior of LucasFilm. This lawsuit in addition to the other lawsuit towards Disney by women claiming to gender discrimination, and the recent earning call stating that they’ve lost 1.3 subscribers for Disney+ due to increasing their prices, it might put Disney in even a small world of hurt than they’re already in.
Here's the thing: it doesn't actually matter what evidence you have, if your underlying claim is meaningless or the court can't grant you the relief you seek.
Example 1: Suppose I get into a fight on Twitter with someone and I decide that, to show 'em, I'm gonna sue them for improper use of grammar. I have MOUNTAINS of evidence to support my claim (frequent "Their, there, they're" confusions; your/you're/ur; etc.). I file suit in federal court because they live in another state, but I claim that they've violated the laws of California, and in my complaint (The first document you file in a court case), I say that they've violated California's Good Grammar law. Except no such law exists. But I've got evidence! Doesn't matter. There's no law, so there's nothing to violate. Evidence here is irrelevant.
Example 2: I claim someone has breached a contract. I sign an agreement for someone to come speak at an event I'm putting on. I agree to pay them $8000 up front, provided they come speak on 1/31/24. On the date in question, the other person no-shows, so I sue them claiming breach of contract. I can prove very easily that (1) we had a contract for them to come speak, and (2) they didn't come speak. So far so good. But the relief I ask for is that the court make them paint my house for me in compensation, because I need my house painted. The court will toss my case, because the relief I've asked for isn't something they can give, and UNLESS I also say "Or I'll take the $8,000 I paid, plus some additional damages for booking the venue, hiring the event staff, etc." the court won't say "But we can give you damages instead." Again, even though I have airtight proof that they did the thing I said they did, it doesn't matter because what I'm asking the court to do for
me isn't something the court can or will do.
I skimmed Carano's complaint (Which folks can read here if they want:
https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/gina-carano-disney-suit-feb-6-2024.pdf).
She's asking for a bunch of damages, which is reasonable-ish, if she actually has a case otherwise. The amounts in question seem...kinda low, and that usually suggests to me a shakedown (i.e., an amount that's high enough to be meaningful to the plaintiff, but low enough that the other side won't want to fight over it in court and take on the expenses, so they just settle to make it go away). Meritorious cases (in my opinion) usually ask for higher damages. Then again, there may be some statutory limit involved here. I don't know; I'm not admitted in CA.
But she's asking for "immediate restatement" as if the position she held was something like a salaried position. At least as I understand it -- and I freely admit that I'm neither an employment attorney nor someone knowledgable about how Disney's engagements work -- she was under contract to potentially appear in shows as a guest star, and to star in Rangers of the New Republic before her contract wasn't renewed and the Rangers project was canceled. (I think it's debatable whether she was fired, which is something I'd expect to see in Disney's response to her initial pleading, but we'll see. I've heard they just...didn't renew the agreement because the project was canceled.)
Now, again, I don't know the laws under which she's claiming this relief, so I can't say whether there's actually something there. I know CA laws are generally set up to protect "the little guy" at a baseline, so it's possible she'll make it past a motion to dismiss, if she doesn't get bounced to arbitration on a motion to compel arbitration. If she survives the dismissal motion and this is somehow outside an arbitration claim, then I'd bet this doesn't go past summary judgment if Disney wants to fight it.
I did see one lawyer commenting on this who said he thinks she has a case, but that Disney will settle. He said Disney probably doesn't want their internal emails about this being available to the public.
Right, but that's why they are very, very likely to have arbitration clauses in place. If that's the case, then that's it. The Carano suit disappears from the public eye. Maybe she'll get some money out of it, just to make her go away, but she probably won't be able to disclose the amount (so it could be, like $20K, which is basically admitting her case was BS from the jump, or it could be umpteen million dollars in which case she actually had something), and the parties will likely be bound by NDAs as part of any settlement.
If they don't have arbitration language in place, and/or Disney actually wants to fight it, I doubt she wins. If they settle, keep an eye on any amounts or statements coming out.
She's not coming back as Cara Dune, though.
It's a shame. I liked the character and enjoyed her performance in the role. Her social media stuff was idiotic, though, and basically asking for trouble. This is Disney we're talking about. WTF was she thinking?
