With a trial date that was set to begin on Tuesday, May 13, the lawsuit filed against ABC by former “General Hospital” crew members James Wahl (“Jim”) and his son, Timothy James Wahl (“Tim”), has been postponed. A new trial date has been set for Monday, June 9.
According to Deadline, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Tony Richardson agreed to delay the trial after an attorney for the network said during a hearing last Tuesday that the two sides were looking to resolve the case with the help of since-retired Judge Mitchell Beckloff, who previously presided over the case.
First filed in June 2022, the lawsuit alleges that the plaintiffs were fired after their requested religious exemption to the then-Covid vaccine mandate, which had been put in place by ABC parent Disney back in November 2021, was denied.
“[ABC] denied their requests without explanation, one week after they requested them,” read a portion of the 14-page complaint, calling their termination “unconstitutional” and a form of “religious discrimination.”
“These actions were unlawful. ABC does not have the authority to force a medical treatment on its employees against their will,” the complaint said. “Even if it did, it must offer religious exemptions to anybody who requests one. It cannot discriminate among religions and cannot second-guess the sincerity of one’s religious beliefs without an objective basis for doing so. It did not have one here. ABC’s actions constitute religious discrimination and violate Plaintiffs’ rights under state law.”
As stage technicians, the Wahl’s ran the construction shop and special effects department for the daytime drama series, with the elder Wahl working on the show for 14 years and the younger Wahl for 10 years before being terminated.
In response to the lawsuit at the time, particularly the denied request for religious exemption, ABC reportedly called the plaintiff’s objection to vaccination “purely as lifestyle choices that it had no duty to accommodate.”
Disney has since rescinded the mandate, which allowed the network to rehire actor Steve Burton back in the role of Jason Morgan after he had previously been let go from the show upon also being denied an exemption to the then-mandate.
Michael Yada/ABC
While the Wahl lawsuit seeks a resolution that might help circumvent a lengthy trial, another lawsuit filed against ABC by former “General Hospital” star Ingo Rademacher remains cold after a separate Los Angeles County Superior Court judge in February denied a motion by the actor to have his wrongful termination lawsuit revived.
In November 2024, Rademacher, who played Jasper “Jax” Jacks on the soap, sought to have his previously dismissed case against the network reopened, citing the network’s decision to rehire Steve Burton as both actors were let go simultaneously due to noncompliance with the since-rescinded vaccine mandate.
Judge Stephen Goorvitch first ruled on Rademacher’s lawsuit in June 2023, siding with ABC, wherein he indicated that Rademacher’s opposition [to getting vaccinated] was “based on health reasons rather than his religious leanings.”
The judge denied the motion, determining that ABC’s decision in rehiring Burton did not indicate Rademacher was terminated for his political beliefs, and he would have to file a new lawsuit if he wanted to raise such an argument in court. Additionally, the motion for a trial was denied.
In filing the motion, an attorney for Rademacher said, “ABC’s rehiring of Mr. Burton, which occurred while this case was on appeal confirms that ABC got rid of Ingo because it did not like his political views. It confirms that ABC did not merely lay Ingo off, with the intent of bringing him back later, as it did with [Steve]. It re-cast his role. It replaced him, or is in the process of replacing him, with another actor.”
