Paramount Seeks Recusal Of Judge Assigned To State AGs’ Antitrust Challenge To Warner Bros. Discovery Merger

Paramount is seeking to have the judge assigned to the state attorneys general challenge to its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery recused from the case, arguing that he has an “appearance of bias” because of his prior legal work for the Writers Guild of America.

In a motion filed in federal court on Wednesday (read it here), Paramount’s legal team wrote that U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts previously was in private practice for Altshuler Berzon LLP and served as “long standing labor counsel” for the WGA. They noted that the WGA has filed a related case, and that the guilds had expressed support for the state AGs lawsuit.

Paramount’s legal team asked that the case be reassigned to Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who is overseeing a lawsuit that was brought by a group of consumers in April. There already has been some expectation that the case would be reassigned to her, even before Paramount’s latest motion, given previous filings that the litigation is related.

Read the Paramount recusal motion.

Pitts, appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden in 2023, was randomly assigned the case on Tuesday.

Paramount’s legal team, led by Jeffrey Kessler, wrote, “WGA is not merely an interested observer in this action; it is an active litigant whose interests are directly aligned with those of the Plaintiffs in this litigation and directly adverse to Paramount’s interests. Judge Pitts’ prior long-standing representation of WGA—a vocal opponent of the proposed merger that has publicly committed to working with regulators to block it—creates precisely the type of appearance of impropriety that Section 455(a) seeks to prevent.”

A spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the states’ antitrust challenge, declined comment.

Martínez-Olguín also was nominated by Biden, and has a background in immigration law.

Pitts has set a hearing on the state AGs’ motion for a temporary restraining order for Friday. Paramount is asking for a ruling on recusal before a decision is made on the TRO.

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