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1 LEWIS N. LEVY, Bar No. 105975 DANIEL R. BARTH, Bar No. 274009 2 Levy, Ford & Wallach 3619 Motor Avenue 3 Los Angeles, CA 90034 Telephone: (213) 380-3140 4 Facsimile: (213) 480-3284 Email: [email protected] 5 [email protected] 6 JEFFREY R. FREUND (pro hac vice application forthcoming) ROBERT ALEXANDER (pro hac vice application forthcoming) 7 ABIGAIL V. CARTER (pro hac vice application forthcoming) PHILIP C. ANDONIAN, Bar No. 222243 8 Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC 805 Fifteenth St., N.W. Tenth Floor 9 Washington, D.C. 20005 Telephone: (202) 842-2600 10 Facsimile: (202) 842-1888 Email: [email protected] 11 [email protected] [email protected] 12 [email protected] 13 Attorneys for Plaintiff 14 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 15 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 16 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF CASE NO. 2:15-cv-03953 MUSICIANS OF THE UNITED 17 STATES AND CANADA COMPLAINT 18 Plaintiff, v. 19 JURY TRIAL DEMANDED COLUMBIA PICTURES 20 INDUSTRIES, INC., PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION,Deadline.com 21 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION, UNIVERSAL CITY 22 STUDIOS, LLC, WALT DISNEY PICTURES, INC., AND WARNER 23 BROTHERS ENTERTAINMENT, INC., 24 Defendants. 25 26 NATURE OF THE CASE 27 1. This is an action under §301 of the Labor Management Relations 28 Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 185, for violations of the Basic Theatrical Motion 28 1 COMPLAINT CASE NO. 2:15-cv-03953 28 8 1 Picture Agreement (hereinafter “Agreement”), a collective bargaining agreement 2 to which the Plaintiff American Federation of Musicians of the United States and 3 Canada (hereinafter “AFM”) and each Defendant is a party. That Agreement 4 prohibited Defendants from re-using or permitting the re-use of certain previously 5 recorded theatrical motion picture music sound tracks that had been created by 6 AFM musicians under that Agreement or a predecessor Agreement 7 (“Agreements”), except under certain circumstances. Moreover, the Agreement’s 8 exceptions that allowed limited re-use of previously recorded theatrical motion 9 picture music sound tracks required Defendants to make certain specified 10 payments for the benefit of the AFM musicians who created the original sound 11 tracks. 12 2. Notwithstanding these clear contractual obligations, Plaintiff has 13 now learned that each of the Defendants routinely (a) re-used and/or permitted 14 others to re-use previously recorded theatrical motion picture music sound tracks 15 in a manner prohibited by the agreement, and/or (b) re-used and/or permitted 16 others to re-use previously recorded theatrical sound tracks in a manner permitted 17 by the Agreement only if proper compensation was made for the benefit of the 18 appropriate AFM musicians, but did not make the payments required under the 19 Agreement. 20 3. Deadline.comThe known re-use violations of the Agreement are only a small 21 fraction of the unreported, improper, and uncompensated re-use of theatrical 22 motion picture music sound tracks created by musicians under the Agreement. 23 Defendants’ violations have caused substantial losses to hundreds of musicians 24 who make their livelihood creating music for Defendants’ motion pictures. This 25 LMRA § 301 action seeks to recover appropriate breach of contract damages, 26 including but not limited to all payments owed by Defendants to and for the 27 benefit of musicians whose services were covered by the Agreement and/or 28 previous Agreements. 28 2 COMPLAINT CASE NO. 2:15-cv-03953 28 8 1 JURISDICTION AND VENUE 2 4. This Court has jurisdiction over this lawsuit and parties pursuant to 3 29 U.S.C. § 185 and 28 U.S.C. § 1331. 4 5. Venue lies in this District pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 185(a) and 28 5 U.S.C. § 1391(b). 6 PARTIES 7 6. The Plaintiff AFM is a labor organization that represents 8 approximately 80,000 professional musicians in the United States and Canada, 9 including many hundreds of musicians who work to create the music sound track 10 for motion pictures produced in this District and throughout the United States and 11 Canada. The AFM is “a labor organization representing employees in an industry 12 affecting commerce” within the meaning of the federal statute, 29 U.S.C. § 185, 13 authorizing “[s]uits for violation of contracts” between such a labor organization 14 and “an employer.” 15 7. The Defendant Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (hereinafter 16 “Columbia”) produces theatrical motion pictures and employs in the United States 17 and Canada professional musicians represented by the AFM in their productions. 18 Columbia maintains its headquarters at 10202 Washington Boulevard, Culver 19 City, CA 90232, and engages in business on a regular basis in the Central District 20 of California.Deadline.com 21 8. The Defendant Paramount Pictures Corporation (hereinafter 22 “Paramount”) produces theatrical motion pictures and employs in the United 23 States and Canada professional musicians represented by the AFM in their 24 productions. Paramount maintains its headquarters at 5555 Melrose Avenue, Los 25 Angeles, CA 90038, and engages in business on a regular basis in the Central 26 District of California. 27 9. The Defendant Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 28 (hereinafter “Fox”) produces theatrical motion pictures and employs in the United 28 3 COMPLAINT CASE NO. 2:15-cv-03953 28 8 1 States and Canada professional musicians represented by the AFM in their 2 productions. Fox maintains its headquarters at 10201 W. Pico Boulevard, Los 3 Angeles, CA 90064, and engages in business on a regular basis in the Central 4 District of California. 5 10. The Defendant Universal City Studios LLC (hereinafter 6 “Universal”) produces theatrical motion pictures and employs in the United States 7 and Canada professional musicians represented by the AFM in their productions. 8 Universal maintains its headquarters at 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, 9 CA 91608, and engages in business on a regular basis in the Central District of 10 California. 11 11. The Defendant Walt Disney Pictures, Inc. (hereinafter “Disney”) 12 produces theatrical motion pictures and employs in the United States and Canada 13 professional musicians represented by the AFM in their productions. Disney 14 maintains its headquarters at 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521, and 15 engages in business on a regular basis in the Central District of California. 16 12. The Defendant Warner Brothers Entertainment, Inc. (hereinafter 17 “Warner Brothers”) produces theatrical motion pictures through its motion picture 18 units, including Warner Brothers Pictures and New Line Cinema, and employs in 19 the United States and Canada professional musicians represented by the AFM in 20 their productions.Deadline.com Warner Brothers maintains its headquarters at 4000 Warner 21 Boulevard, Burbank, CA 91522, and engages in business on a regular basis in the 22 Central District of California. 23 13. Each of the Defendants is “an employer” within the meaning of the 24 federal statute, 29 U.S.C. § 185, authorizing “[s]uits for violation of contracts” 25 between such an employer and “a labor organization representing employees in an 26 industry affecting commerce.” 27 28 28 4 COMPLAINT CASE NO. 2:15-cv-03953 28 8 1 FACTS 2 14. At all times relevant to this lawsuit, the AFM and each of the 3 Defendants were parties to one or more of the Agreements, each of which is a 4 contract between Defendants as employers and the AFM as a labor organization 5 representing employee musicians within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. §185. Each of 6 the Defendants is a “Producer” as to certain theatrical motion pictures within the 7 terms of the Agreements. The contractual violations alleged in this Complaint all 8 occurred during the term of the 2010 Agreement, which was effective initially for 9 the period April 14, 2010 through February 23, 2013, and was subsequently 10 extended through April 4, 2015. 11 15. The Agreements set out wage and benefit terms for various defined 12 categories of musicians who work to prepare, perform and record (collectively, 13 “create”) original music sound tracks for theatrical motion pictures and whose 14 services were covered by the Agreements (“Musicians”). The Agreements govern 15 work by Musicians “employed by the Producer in the State of California or 16 elsewhere in the United States and Canada whose services are rendered in 17 connection with the production of theatrical motion pictures.” Pursuant to the 18 Agreements, under which music sound track is created for use in a specific 19 theatrical motion picture, Musicians created the “music sound track” for hundreds 20 of theatrical motionDeadline.com pictures produced in the United States and Canada. Under the 21 2010 Agreement, and all previous Agreements since 1960, the Producers agreed 22 that “all music sound track already recorded, or which will be recorded prior to 23 the expiration of this Agreement, will not be used at any time for any purpose 24 whatsoever except to accompany the picture for which the music sound track was 25 originally prepared….” 26 16. The 2010 Agreement, however, did permit for limited exceptions 27 to the blanket prohibition on the re-use of a Producer’s previously recorded music 28 sound tracks set out in Paragraph 15, above: 28 5 COMPLAINT CASE NO. 2:15-cv-03953 28 8 1 (a) First, the 2010 Agreement allowed the “use of up to two (2) 2 minutes of music sound track from a motion picture without the accompanying 3 footage (other than in new media)” – what is referred to hereinafter as an “un- 4 synced clip” – if that usage does not fall within certain other

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