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C.A. Amends Opinion to Eliminate Editors’ Names
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Div. Four of the Court of Appeal for this district has apparently decided that the identity of finishing editors who had worked for Fox Digital Enterprises Inc. is too sensitive to be publicly disclosed, amending an unpublished opinion on Friday to change their names to initials.
The panel modified the opinion in 13 places, starting with ¶6. As filed on Dec. 25, that paragraph began:
“At the time, Fox employed seven regular finishing editors working an average of four or five shifts per week—Williams, Thomas Stock-Hendel, Jack Thannum, Daryl Frederick, Paul Ware, David Yount, and Ruth Cooper.”
As modified, the first sentence of the paragraph now reads:
“At the time, Fox employed seven regular finishing editors working an average of four or five shifts per week—Williams, Thomas Stock-Hendel, J.T, D.F., P.W., D.Y., and R.C.”
A request to remove the names of the editors was made by Fox on Jan. 12.
No Guideline Cited
There is no indication in the opinion as to what guideline in the Rules of Court was being relied upon in concealing the identities of the editors.
The opinion by Acting Presiding Justice Audrey B. Collins affirms a summary judgment awarded to Fox by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lia Martin in an age discriminatory suit by longtime editor Patrick Williams. Martin found that Fox had shown a valid nondiscriminatory reason for reducing, later eliminating, Williams’s shifts and Williams failed to show the reason to be pretextual.
Collins wrote:
“We are not persuaded that Williams has met his burden to produce substantial evidence to defeat summary judgment.”
Signing Colins’s opinion—and the order for a modification—were Justice Brian S. Currey and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lynn Scaduto, sitting on assignment.
The case is Williams v. Fox Networks Engineers and Operations, B309868.
Other Decision
Stock-Hendel sued Fox in a separate action and Martin found in favor of Fox. That decision was affirmed by this district’s Div. One on Oct. 4, 2022 and modified on Oct. 21.
That modification, also, changed names to initials. Making that alteration were Presiding Justice Frances Rothschild and Justices Victoria Chaney and Helen I. Bendix.
The opinion, which was not certified for publication, came in Stock-Hendel v. Fox Digital Enterprises, Inc., B309869.
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