Panel dismissed claims against Noah Wyle, John Wells and R Scott Gemmill
A three-judge panel of a US appeals court has ruled that the medical drama The Pitt is similar enough to ER for the estate of ER creator Michael Crichton to continue a lawsuit against its producers. In a 33-page opinion published Wednesday, the panel said there are “clear and numerous similarities between The Pitt and ER,” upholding an earlier ruling that the estate had presented enough evidence to pursue its claim. The case will now go to a jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court.
“We find the details here suffice for a prima facie case,” the judges said. The ruling does not decide whether The Pitt infringes Crichton’s rights. It means the estate has cleared the threshold for putting its claim before a jury.
The panel listed the similarities it relied on: the emergency room setting, the fast pace, use of medical jargon, graphic depictions of injuries, and younger doctors fresh from medical school being trained. In a further part of its analysis, the judges said they had compared the opening episode scripts for the two shows and found sufficient similarities in plot, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, characters, graphic injury detail and sequence of events.
Warner Bros had asked the appeals court to dismiss the case, arguing that the two shows shared only “generic similarities” common to “any dramatic story involving emergency room doctors.” The panel rejected that argument in a unanimous ruling that upheld the earlier decision to let the case proceed.
At the center of the claim is a clause in Crichton’s contract covering the rights to ER. Sherri Crichton, his widow, says the contract included a “frozen rights” provision that prohibited any spin-offs, sequels or reboots of ER being made without his express consent.
She and the John Michael Crichton Trust argue that The Pitt is a rebranded but uncredited reboot of ER rather than an entirely original series, using the same formula, pacing, style and setting. The estate said producers “simply moved the show from Chicago to Pittsburgh, rebranded it The Pitt, and ploughed ahead without any attribution or compensation for Crichton and his heirs.”
ER launched in 1994 on an original screenplay by Crichton and followed a group of doctors working in a Chicago emergency room. The series starred George Clooney, Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle and Maria Bello, aired 331 episodes over the next 15 years and won 23 Emmy Awards during its run, including outstanding drama series. The Pitt, which stars Noah Wyle, is set in a Pittsburgh emergency room and first aired in 2025.
Wyle previously starred in ER alongside Anthony Edwards, George Clooney and Eriq La Salle. Many actors and creatives from ER also work on The Pitt, including Wyle, Gemmill and Wells.
Discussions about a possible reboot of ER began in 2020, and studio Warner Bros spent months negotiating with Crichton’s estate. Those talks were reported to have collapsed over credit and financial guarantees, and producers began developing The Pitt in its place.
Legal action began in 2024. Warner Bros Television said in a statement that the lawsuit was “baseless,” arguing that The Pitt was a “new and original show,” adding that the studio would “vigorously defend against these meritless claims.”
While the case against the studio proceeds, the panel dismissed separate claims against Wyle, Wells and Gemmill. The judges said there was insufficient evidence to show that the three producers were aware they could be violating Crichton’s contractual rights.
Sherri Crichton said: “I am deeply gratified by the Court of Appeal decision and look forward to discovery and to our case, which affects writers, creators, and their families and estates, being presented to a jury.”
Warner Bros has not yet commented on the latest ruling. The case proceeds to discovery and then to a jury in Los Angeles Superior Court, where the estate’s claim that The Pitt is an uncredited ER reboot will be tested. The Pitt is up for 25 Emmys.