The lawsuit filed by Scarlett Johansson over the Black Widow movie fees and bonuses complicates more each week. Now, the judge assigned to the lawsuit declared he will disqualify himself due to a conflict of interests.
In a very uncommon turn of events, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert S. Draper said that he will self-disqualify from the Black Widow case. Robert Draper was a partner until 2005 at the O’Melveny & Meyers LLP firm. During his years working at the law firm, he and his associates had represented The Walt Disney Company on multiple occasions. Judge Draper still receives today a monthly pension from the said firm, which amounts to more than $100,000 a year. According to SpectrumNews1 the judge’s clerk has issued a minute order on Monday, August 23rd, explaining the self-disqualification on grounds of conflict of interests. The minute order further explains that the two parties involved, Disney and Ms. Johansson, have until September 10th to waive the minute order of self-disqualification by filing a joint agreement.
Ms. Johansson brought the lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company to the Los Angeles Superior Court on July 29. In it, she claims that Disney has breached her contract by cutting her off her possibility to generate income through bonuses by releasing the Black Widow film both in movie theaters and on the streaming service Disney+. In her contract with the entertainment colossus, she was promised salary that heavily depends on box office tickets sold. Immediately after the suit was filed, Disney published the movie star’s salary and called her case against them “callous and sad”. Shortly after, Ms. Johansson’s agent fought back by calling Disney out on their offensive and gender-based attacks.
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