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'Storage Wars' Rigging Lawsuit: David Hester Says A&E Can't Plead First Amendment
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Original Message
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In December, David Hester filed a lawsuit against A&E Television Networks, alleging that producers of Storage Wars rigged the reality television series by salting storage lockers before they were auctioned off to buyers.
It's a bold salvo which -- if Hester is successful -- could present serious implications for others in reality TV.
That is evident by a new court brief (read in full here) filed by Hester's attorneys late last week in the case. The papers attempt to explain why the First Amendment doesn't protect A&E and why 47 U.S.C. § 509, enacted following the TV quiz show scandals of the 1950s, does apply. What's more, the plaintiff is drawing the court's attention to a prior lawsuit against Survivor and a law review article that argues why it might be time that legal scrutiny is paid to unscripted television.
Among the claims that Hester is bringing in his lawsuit against A&E is that the network has made unfair business practices. Hester says his claims arise from producers' conduct in alleged violation of Section 509, which prohibits "influencing, prearranging, or predetermining outcomes" in "contests of knowledge, skill, or chance."
Hester says that the defendants' alleged violation of this law has harmed him.
For 26 years, Hester has been a professional buyer of abandoned storage lockers. He says producers began salting lockers during the first season, and that after he complained, the producers stopped salting the storage units that he acquired, but continued salting the storage units acquired by other cast members. As a result of alleged "interference and manipulation of the outcomes of the auctions shown" on Storage Wars, he says that producers have made it appear that he is less skillful than his competition. He now says that
others have stopped doing business with his shops, and that because of all this, he's been forced to close his store fronts.
Learn more: [link to www.hollywoodreporter.com]
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