Actor Arnold Chun filed to dismiss the claims against him in an ongoing lawsuit with American Airlines and others in the U.S. District Court for the Central District Court of California earlier this month.
In the motion to dismiss, Chun's lawyers called the co-defendant Steward Cohen Pictures I LTD's counterclaim "frivolous." The co-defendant does business as SC Pictures.
"After Chun filed the operative first amended complaint, and in a clear tactic to intimidate Chun, SC Pictures filed a frivolous counterclaim shortly before the mediation ordered by this court and set by the parties," the motion states. "Chun has not been intimidated, and the parties were unable to settle this matter at mediation. Accordingly, Chun has been forced to file this motion.
"The reality is that SC Pictures’ counterclaims have no factual or legal support and were brought solely as a retaliatory scare tactic," the motion states.
Chun, whose film productions include "The Man in the High Castle," sued the airline in October 2019 over a multitude of allegations, including failure to pay overtime, failure to maintain required business records, failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements, failure to pay all earned wages upon separation from employment and intentional misclassification of Chun as an independent contractor.
The actor worked with American Airlines through his corporation and talent agency, Philean Entertainment and Luciano Reeves Talent Inc., on a three-day video shoot as part of an American Airlines marketing campaign.
While Chun is a member of the SAG-AFTRA actors union, the project with American Airlines was not a unionized agreement, according to the first amended complaint filed in May. Part of the project's contract included a nondisclosure agreement in which Chun agreed to not "disclose to others any confidential information."
Chun, however, allegedly made social media posts on at least six separate occasions on Facebook and Twitter, violating that agreement, co-defendant SC Pictures' September counterclaim states.
The co-defendant denied Chun's allegations and alleged he breached confidentiality contracts.
Chun filed a similar suit in 2013 against Blueyed Pictures Inc., alleging violation of California labor laws. That suit reached a settlement and was dismissed.
Court filings showed that Chun and the defendants failed to reach a mediation agreement in early October.
A hearing date is set for Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. with Judge André Birotte Jr. presiding.