'Judging' thesp sues Fox

Variety - Oct 1, 2001 

Actor Richard T. Jones has sued Fox Television, claiming the network promised to let him out of the television series "Judging Amy" if he became unhappy with the show but now refuses to do so.

According to the complaint, filed Monday in L.A. Superior Court, at the time Jones entered into a contract to perform on "Judging Amy," he was promised orally that if he obtained any significant movie roles or was dissatisfied with the series, his character would be written out of the series.

The show's producer, Joseph Stern, subsequently told Jones that his character would be expanded from the first season. However, his character was not expanded, and Jones gave Fox notice that he wanted to leave the show.

Marty Singer, Jones' attorney, said, "We previously proposed that Fox would write Richard out of the series this year. They refused and now we'll let the courts decide that Fox has to live up to the representations they made to my client and let him out of the series."

Jones alleges that Fox has refused to let him out of his agreement even though it has let other actors on the series -- who are not named in the complaint -- out of their agreements and has let actors out of other Fox series, such as "NYPD Blue."

The complaint also claims that Fox required Jones to work 16-17 hour work days and required him to engage in table readings during his lunch hour.


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