Roger Friedman Files $5.2 Million Lawsuit Against Fox News

Updated with complaint below

Fired Fox News entertainment columnist Roger Friedman filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Fox News, News Corp, 20th Century Fox and Rupert Murdoch in New York State Supreme Court Monday, the Huffington Post has learned.

In the suit, Friedman seeks $5,180,000 in damages for wrongful termination, tortious interference, and libel defamation.

Friedman was fired in April after reviewing a copy of 20th Century Fox blockbuster "Wolverine" that had leaked online, a move seen as an implicit endorsement of piracy.

Friedman, who now writes for the Hollywood Reporter, is expected to allege that the piracy incident was an excuse to fire him, and that News Corp really bowed to pressure from Scientologists, who had been seeking his dismissal over columns critical of Scientology.

Update: In the complaint, seen below, Friedman does not allege that News Corp caved to pressure from Scientologists to fire him. Though the complaint does make reference to Scientology — namely that editor Refet Kaplan suggested that some of the blog backlash to Friedman's column may have been motivated by his columns criticizing Scientology — it never alleges that Scientologists pressured News Corp to fire Friedman. Rather, it claims that the copy of "Wolverine" that Friedman viewed was a copy of the movie that had leaked from Murdoch's control and that Friedman was fired to cover up Murdoch's mistake:

20th Century Fox, NewsCorp and Rupert Murdoch induced and compelled Fox News to terminate Friedman's contract in part to cover up the fact that the version of "Wolverine" that Roger Friedman saw online was actually a copy of the work print of "Wolverine" which had been in the possession and control of Murdoch.

The complaint also references a January 2009 article from the London Times — also owned by News Corp — which gave detailed instructions on how to download pirated movies but which resulted in no penalties for its writers.

The complaint also reveals that Friedman earned $250,000 annually, and is seeking $180,000 for wrongful termination (the remainder of his contract, which was set to expire at the end of this year). He is seeking the additional $5 million for libel defamation.

Full complaint below, embedded via DocStoc:

Roger Friedman Lawsuit -

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Comments

[prankin]

Good luck on that lawsuit, Roger. By the way, why DID you review a pirated version of a movie? Aren't you a professional movie reviewer? Is is common practice to review pirated movies?

PWR

[GOPApostate]

Go back to Moonbase, Scientologist.

[glorialovelace]

I think the pirated tape was just Fox's excuse to sack him without having to pay severance. He was marked for "redundancy" long before that.

[rayy]

Cult pseudo-journalistic enterprise conspires with cult religion. Big surprise!

[WellTickleMeWillie]

Any amount of legal fees that FAUX Noise is required to spend to defend against this lawsuit is less money they have to propagandize. Thnaks Mr Friedman. I hope you win a costly battle for FAUX.

[longislandlol]

How dare the scientologists do this to a top journalist merely for criticizing and exercising freedom of speech against their policies-

[carolo]

I hope he wins just because I hate FOX so much.

[rattler99]

I'm sure you do

[foofoobunny]

yep...and so do I...just out of principal, I hope he wins.

[stagebandman]

He broke the law. Plain and simple. He was not doing a story about illegal downloads, which could have excused his behavior. He just wanted to write the first review. Although I abhor Fox News, I have to side with them here. Now, if they show that same judgement when Fox personalities threaten our president, then we'll have something.

[Counterglow]

I'm curious. Exactly what "law" did he break? As far as I know, Friedman hasn't even been charged with a crime, much less convicted. If you know anything about how the internet and browsers work, you know it's possible he downloaded nothing, and therefore so violated no law.

[stagebandman]

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/piracy_ny063006.htm

The film was not licensed to be broadcast at that point, therefore, it was illegal for anyone to download it without permission, and, obviously, he did not have permission.

[atomic]

what do you know ... he may have some way of proving this in which case he has a case.

[stagebandman]

He would not have been fired by Fox if that were the case.

[Punkynsnow]

He didn't break any law; Fox News & 20th Century Fox are both owned by the same entity, News Corporation. He may very well have had an advance copy of the film because of this and unless he personally gave the film to someone to be posted online, he did nothing to break the law.

They were peeved at him about something else, trust me. I have first hand knowledge that they've been slashing long-term employees at some of their companies in supposed 'cost cutting' maneuvers. They'll find someone else to fill his shoes at a lower salary, that's how the game's played.

Personally I hope he wins the suit. Rupert and the people he has running some of his companies have a reprehensible way of doing business; loyalty and hard work is not valued or rewarded.

[AirForceBlue]

"trust me"..............heh heh, yeah....right!

[billythehut]

Reporters used all kinds of leaks to keep the public informed. Just because this is a review of a movie that was leaked to him and so not as important an issue as say the Watergate leak, doesn't mean this isn't about very important issue of journalism.

If a reporter can be shut up for such a small thing as this what will that mean next time a high powered dirty political figure wants a story repressed?

[littlepuffycloud]

Reviewing the pirated movie condoned the piracy. Your reporter comparison is apples to oranges.

[Dogger]

I'm having trouble understanding his case. Wouldn't it be more damaging to his reputation if Fox thought he was fit to work there?

[oregonbird]

He willingly worked for FOX, and I don't care why he was fired.

[hidflect]

The flea ridden dog biting the sociopathic master's hand...

[GOPApostate]

Movie reviewer != Bill O'Reilly, don't be daft.

[rf dude]

Karl Rove stunt-double...
--

[digeridoo2]

No doubt...Rove after a ginormous bong-rip. He looks like a pretty shady dude.

[RepugsOut08]

Doc Savage would have sent him upstate to be reintroduced to society as a much better citizen. Todays shyster lawers will only make him worse. ;)

[pfc1369]

"Doc" Weiner is a thorough fake.

[bccmeteorites]

For news research and reporting purposes, the site below is a great resource of leaked documents (confidential-secret) on many sensitive issues including the Church of Scientology.

http://www.wikileaks.org/

[Gidster]

Scientologist will spend millions to make your life he11 if you speak out against them.

[RepugsOut08]

Then let's ALL speak out against them, and bankrupt them! ;)

[Indedave]

Tom "I don't have enough brains to undergo psychoanalysis" Cruise, in contract negotiations with Fox Studios for a starring role in an upcoming film, set Friedman's firing as a condition of that contract.

[NoahVail]

Roger Ailes, head of Fox News is a Scientologist...

http://frogstylebiscuit.com/node/679

[marxmarv]

That explains absolutely everything. The rednecks need to hear about this.

[Amondale]

Wow. I'd like more news on this story, but too bad both of them abhor it.

[proud2bemoderate]

Fox and Scientology on the same team?? I don't think so...

[TheHandyman]

That is what people said when 60 Minutes id their trash job of Werner Erhard of est fame. A few years later it turned out that most of the material that 60 Minutes used was from the Chuch of Scientology and some of the editorial staff had ties to the Church. The Scienfooligsts will do nothing short of what the old Catholic Chuch used to do. They do not like to hear anything but good things about themselves. They learned from LRon who was as paranoid as they come!

[Gidster]

Look at their latest ad buy!

[JumpDownTurnAround]

Uh hello.....greta van susteren works for FOX, she's a SCIENTOLOGIST...it's not that far fetched!

[LIBERALandProudOfIt]

Both built on lies and only idiots believe them.

Same team to me.

[northstar11]

he could not have been very good ---or he would have sued for 105.2 million

[saynotocults]

Totally believable. $cientology will stop at nothing to suppress their critics.

[northstar11]

kind of like the christians who labeled them as heretics and some got burned at the stake.

[Azmom]

Sceno's have been burned at the stake...Faux news Sceno's too?

[Foreground]

I'm pretty sure that Scientologists were never burned at the stake -- at least, not in large groups, since they haven't even existed for a full century yet, and burning people at the stake hasn't really been official policy for even longer than that, AFAIK.

[Garioch]

When were Scientologists burned at the stake... and where for that matter. I can't recall anyone being burned at the stake for some time now and the scientologist 'religion' has only been about for a couple of months.

[Gidster]

Scientologists have not been burned at the stake! Dianetics was not even published until 1950!

The Church had stopped burning folk long before that!