Former 'Days of our Lives' Crew Member Sues Sony After Lighting Accident Causes Brain Injuries

Days of our Lives scenic artist Karla Bergstrom suffered severe brain injuries when hundreds of pounds of lighting gear came crashing down on her, according to a lawsuit.

Bergstrom is suing Sony, owners and producers of the long-running NBC soap opera, claiming the company hired a bunch of negligent set builders whose shoddy work resulted in her traumatic accident.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Bergstrom says the workers were lowering a 400-pound bar of stage lights back in 2015, but failed to give anyone a heads-up. She says the grid came down on top of her, causing her head injuries.

Bergstrom's suing Sony and the lighting company, Goodnight and Co., for damages and her medical expenses.

Prospect Park Networks vs ABC - Case Dismissed! (Updated)

The case of Prospect Park Networks LLC vs American Broadcasting Company has been dismissed, per the latest status available on the Los Angeles Court website (lacourt.org). According to the online records, the case was "dismissed" on Thursday, December 1. The details are still unknown at this point.

The Court set an order on October 5 for Prospect Park to show cause or have the case dismissed on December 1. The October hearing focused on Prospect Park's Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, and its impact on the case.

What does the dismissal mean for the future of All My Children and One Life to Live, the longtime ABC daytime soap operas that were brought back online after being licensed by Prospect Park? Stay tuned.

UPDATE:
With the dismissal, the rights to All My Children and One Life to Live have reverted back to ABC. SoapCentral.com obtained an official comment from Susan Klein, an attorney with the firm who represented ABC in the lawsuit, who said, “I can confirm that Prospect Park’s lawsuit was dismissed yesterday and ABC regained the rights to those shows.”

RELATED:
- LAW SUIT: A View Through the Looking Glass at the Prospect Park vs. ABC Lawsuit
- TIMELINE: The Rise and Fall of Prospect Park, or, The Martyrdom of ALL MY CHILDREN & ONE LIFE TO LIVE

Original 'Ryan's Hope' Actor Michael Hawkins Files $20 Million Lawsuit Against His Son, Christian Slater

Michael Hawkins, Christian Slater (inset). Photo Credit: RadarOnline.com

In December, we published a story on "virtually destitute" actor Michael Hawkins, best known for his soap opera work which included being the original Frank Ryan on Ryan's Hope. Hawkins has now filed a $20 million lawsuit against his son, Christian Slater, who played roles on Ryan's Hope and All My Children early in his career.

Slater's dad, Michael Hawkins, says his son and ex-wife Mary Jo Slater "ruined" his acting career in the suit, according to court papers obtained by People magazine.

The suit asks that the court order Slater to pay his father for damages as a result of slander, libel, defamation of character, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Hawkins asked for a jury trial.

Hawkins pointed to a December 2015 interview in which Slater said Hawkins is "a manic-depressive schizophrenic."

The 80-year-old actor argues that Christian doesn't have the medical degree or knowledge to diagnose mental illnesses. He also says that he has been "blacklisted" in the entertainment industry and doesn't believe he'll ever be able to act professionally again.

In a 2015 Interview magazine article, the 46-year-old Slater referred to his father having a mental condition and said it was a cause of his father's acting career problems. He also said they had a "tumultuous, back-and-forth relationship," but they were working on reconciliation.

Christian Slater began his career on his dad's former soap, playing D.J. LaSalle on Ryan's Hope in 1985, before joining All My Children as Caleb Thompson. He was almost 6 years old when his father appeared on the first episode of Ryan's Hope. Michael Hawkins' other soap roles included Mark Elliott on Love is a Many Splendored Thing and Paul Stewart on As the World Turns. Mary Jo Slater is a former One Life to Live casting director.

NEWS: Prospect Park, Anthony Geary, Josh Duhamel, Cindy Crawford, Nicholas Rodriguez

Prospect Park blames ABC lawsuit for its Chapter 7 bid
Production company Prospect Park Networks LLC has asked to convert its bankruptcy to Chapter 7 because it couldn't pay Jones Day's fees in a breach of contract suit against The Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network over the soap opera One Life to Live. PPN, which tried to revive OLTL and All My Children online, said in a Delaware bankruptcy court filing that it had hoped selling its Connecticut tax credits to Apple Inc. would pay for Jones Day to represent it in its $95 million lawsuit against ABC, but the proceeds weren't enough to keep the firm on board or to find a suitable replacement.

"The best hope for a meaningful recovery to creditors is successful prosecution or settlement of the ABC litigation," the motion said. "The debtor and the debtor's counsel have done everything to keep the ABC litigation alive for the benefits of creditors."

Anthony Geary open to a General Hospital return
“If the story is interesting to me and it works out, I may come back to the show for six weeks or so,” Geary told EW.

Cindy Crawford developing NBC drama about 1980s modeling wars
The series, tentatively titled Icon, marks Crawford’s television producing debut. Anne Heche (Another World) and James Tupper will also serve as exec producers with Crawford and Robin Bissell, who will pen the project, hailing from Universal TV.

Icon, in very early development, revolves around the modeling wars in the ’80s that occurred between Ford Modeling Agency and Elite Model Management. The show is completely fictionalized, rather than a re-telling of Crawford’s own experiences. No actual names of models or figures from the time will be used.

One Life to Live alum Nicholas Rodriguez to lead all-Latino cast of Karen Zacarias' "Destiny of Desire" at Arena Stage
Rodriguez returns as part of an all-Latino ensemble playing Sebastian Jose Castillo, in a cast that includes Valenzuela's daughter and son, Esperanza America and Fidel Gomez, as Pilar Castillo and Dr. Diego Mendoza.

Former All My Children star Josh Duhamel joins Hulu's 11/22/63
Based on King's best-seller, 11/22/63 is described as a thriller in which high school English teacher Jake Epping (James Franco) travels back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. But his mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald (played by Daniel Webber), falling in love and the past itself … which doesn’t want to be changed.

Duhamel will play Frank Dunning, the father of Jake's student Harry Dunning (played by youngster Jack Fulton and Leon Rippy), in 1960s Kentucky. Frank is the rakish town butcher, a ladies' man with an effortless smile that everyone welcomes — except Jake, the only man who knows the full violence of which Frank is capable.

The Factory Manchester £110m arts venue approved
It will be located in a new area, St John's, which includes the former Granada Studios site in Manchester city center. The former Coronation Street set, which has been hosting visitor tours since April 2014, will be removed in early 2016 before the site is returned to developer Allied London.

Cinemax will end Banshee after fourth season
Banshee's upcoming eight-episode fourth season will be the show’s last.

'The Young and the Restless' Cast Member Speaks Out About Victoria Rowell, Anonymously

Victoria Rowell

Radar Online recently spoke with a "leading cast member" from The Young and the Restless about former star Victoria Rowell, who sued the show's producer Sony and the CBS network earlier this year, claiming racism kept them from hiring her back to play Drucilla Winters again. The cast member asked not to be named because of concerns they could be dragged into Rowell's lawsuit drama.

The cast member said, “This isn’t a set that has racism as part of the fabric of what makes up the cast and crew. It’s a very diverse cast, and the fact is that Victoria was just difficult to work with. She is tremendously talented, but like a lot of people in this business, there is a huge ego there. At times, Victoria did act like a diva. She would always count her lines and want to see other cast members’ scripts, and could be seen comparing on screen time."

"It’s truly a shame that Victoria is no longer a part of the show because she was wildly popular with the fans, however," the source said. "Scenes with her on-screen and off-screen nemesis Michelle Stafford were legendary! There was absolutely no love lost between those two.”

Would you like to see Rowell return to Y&R as Drucilla? Do you think it's still possible at this point?

'The Young and the Restless' Star Kristoff St. John Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Son's Suicide

Kristoff St. John talked about the lawsuit Tuesday on ET.

Emmy winner Kristoff St. John, who’s best known to soap opera fans as Neil Winters on The Young and the Restless, has filed a lawsuit against the owner of a mental health facility, claiming that his son Julian died as a result of “widespread and pervasive” negligence on the facility’s part.

The lawsuit, filed by St. John and his ex-wife Mia, claims that the November suicide of Julian would have been prevented had staff members at La Casa Mental Health Rehabilitation Center in Long Beach, California, acted “with even the slightest regard for Julian’s safety.”

The claim is filed against La Casa’s parent company, Telecare Corporation.

According to the complaint, Julian who suffered from schizophrenia, was supposed to be on suicide at the time of his death, and was supposed to be checked on every fifteen minutes, but that staff hadn’t checked on the 24-year-old for nearly an hour before he was found in a bathroom of the facility with a bag over his head.

CBS, Sony Say Lawsuit by Former ‘Young and the Restless’ Star Victoria Rowell Is 'Patently Absurd'

Victoria Rowell

CBS and Sony Pictures Television have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by former The Young and the Restless star Victoria Rowell (Drucilla Winters), who claims that she wasn't re-hired in retaliation for her “public and private complaints regarding the lack of diversity in front of and behind the camera on the show.” She further claims that she also attempted to join Y&R’s sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful, but was denied.

In the new legal papers, filed in U.S. district court in California on Wednesday, the two companies not only re-assert their earlier contention that casting decisions are protected by the First Amendment — they say that Rowell never actually applied or auditioned for a role on Y&R after her 2007 departure from the soap opera.

Former Soap Star Victoria Rowell Sues CBS, Sony For Retaliation

Victoria Rowell at Thursday's press conference. Photo courtesy of Roger Newcomb

[press release]

FORMER “YOUNG & THE RESTLESS” STAR SUES CBS, SONY FOR RETALIATION AFTER ACTRESS CALLED FOR DIVERSITY ON SHOW 

Victoria Rowell, Y&R’s “Drucilla Winters,” Claims Companies Refused to Rehire Her in Retaliation for Advocacy on Behalf of African American Actors 

New York, NY— Former “Young and the Restless” star Victoria Rowell today filed a lawsuit claiming that CBS, Sony Pictures and other media companies refused to rehire her after she advocated for greater diversity among those who worked on the daytime drama. Rowell and her lawyers discussed the complaint at a press conference held steps from CBS headquarters.

“All Ms. Rowell is seeking is basic fairness. We are confident that Ms. Rowell will be rehired if the issueis considered in a serious and non-retaliatory manner,” said Cyrus Mehri, a founding partner of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC, the Washington, DC-based law firm representing Rowell. “Ms. Rowell made Drucilla Winters one of the most compelling characters ever to appear on daytime television. In refusing to re-employ her, the defendants aren’t just hurting Ms. Rowell; they’re acting against their own economic self-interest.”

ABC Responds to Prospect Park Lawsuit, Does Not Want License Extended on ALL MY CHILDREN & ONE LIFE TO LIVE

ABC has made their first response in court to the $95 million lawsuit launched by Prospect Park that accuses the network of sabotaging a relaunch of ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ALL MY CHILDREN.

Besides $95 million in damages, Prospect Park is also demanding "a declaration that Prospect Park's continued payment of the licensing fees under the Agreement is excused; that Prospect Park is entitled to an extension of the License Agreement; and that the term of the License Agreement is tolled, from the time of ABC's breach until the breach is fully remedied."

ABC wants the license extension demand removed from the lawsuit. According to ABC, the license agreement allows Prospect Park rights on the soaps for up to 15 seasons of 12 calendar months each unless Prospect ceases production for 18 consecutive months. In that case, rights would revert back to ABC.

Read the ABC motion here.

Former ONE LIFE TO LIVE Writer Sam Hall Sues ABC, Claims He Is Entitled To Royalties From 2013

Sam Hall, former co-head writer for daytime soap opera ONE LIFE TO LIVE, filed a lawsuit against the American Broadcasting Cos. Inc. in New York state court on Tuesday, claiming he hasn't been paid weekly royalties he's owed for the showing of the program by iTunes, Hulu and other services.

According to the complaint, ABC made a deal in 1984 with Wildercliff, Ltd. for Hall's writing services. The agreement is said to have entitled Hall to a weekly royalty "as long as the ONE LIFE TO LIVE series is broadcast."

Prospect Park CEO Jeff Kwatinetz Sues Company and Investment Firm ABRY Partners

Prospect Park's multi-million dollar legal battle with ABC over ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE isn't the only courtroom drama the production company is now facing. Prospect Park chief Jeff Kwatinetz is suing the production company he co-founded as well as investor ABRY Partners, seeking to have a non-compete clause in his contract ruled invalid, according to Deadline.com.

The producer and talent manager is seeking a declaratory judgment over non-compete clauses in a December 31, 2012 employment agreement he signed with Prospect Park when the Boston-based investors came on board late last year.

The catalyst of the complaint was a difference of opinion that Kwatinetz has with ABRY over the direction of the company. Specially, that disagreement has to do with the future of AMC and OLTL and whether they will continue or not.

Christel Khalil Settles Lawsuit With Talent Agency

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS Emmy winner Christel Khalil filed a lawsuit in August against her own talent agency for allegedly being so neglectful that they sent her on an audition for the very show on which she was already working. Mavrick Artists Agency responded that the accusations were ridiculous and without merit.

Khalil had also accused her now-former agency of withholding her money beyond their standard 10 percent agreement. Mavrick said she just didn’t want to pay her fees.

The case has now been settled.

“The Parties are pleased to confirm that they have resolved all of their claims against each other, they wish each other success in their future endeavors, and the action has been dismissed with prejudice,” attorneys for Khalil told TheWrap.

The defense concurred, though no details of the settlement were released.

Both sides are reportedly "a combination of happy and not happy by the nature of the settlement."

Christel Khalil Sues Agency Over Contract; Embarrassed They Submitted Her For Y&R Role Where She Has Worked Since 2002

Actress Christel Khalil, who plays Lily Winters Ashby in THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, sued Mavrick Artists Agency Inc. in California court Tuesday, claiming the talent agency refused to let her terminate her contract after it violated their agreement and withheld money.

According to Law360, the Emmy Award-winning actress alleges in the complaint that Mavrick unlawfully converted her earnings and income to their personal use without permission, co-mingled funds from one of her projects to another and demanded payment of commissions higher than 10 percent, among other contractual violations.

“Christel Khalil, over growing and repeated concerns that the defendants had failed in their obligations under the contract … damaging her career and causing her substantial economic losses and damages, served notice of termination, thereby rendering the contract void,” the complaint said.