Court rules ER and The Pitt have ‘clear similarities’ as legal battle continues - The Independent
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A US appeals court has permitted the lawsuit launched by Michael Crichton’s widow against the TV series The Pitt to proceed.
Sherri Crichton, the widow of the late author and creator of the TV series ER, began legal procedings against The Pitt in 2024, before the first season aired. The lawsuit contends that The Pitt is in effect an unauthorised reboot of ER, something that Warner Bros Television (WBTV) and the show’s producers have denied.
In a new ruling filed on Wednesday (4 November), a panel of three judges denied an appeal from The Pitt producers to have the case thrown out, stating that “there are clear and numerous similarities between The Pitt and ER”.
Also among the defendants are John Wells, an executive producer of The Pitt who formerly served as showrunner on ER ; lead Noah Wyle, who starred in ER before fronting The Pitt, and R Scott Gemmill, an executive producer and writer on ER who is the showrunner and an executive producer of The Pitt.
Michael Crichton’s 1994 contract with WBTV for ER – which was originally based on his experiences as a medical student – included a stipulation preventing any spin-offs being produced without his approval. With Crichton having died in 2008, his estate now assumes this authority.
Wyle and the show’s producers have spoken openly about the new series’ origins, stating that The Pitt came about after plans for a prospective reboot of ER fell through.
In the new court ruling, judges found that the two shows evinced various similarities, including the emergency room setting, the use of “frequently incomprehensible” medical jargon, overlapping simultaneous crises and gory injury recreations.
The document also notes that both series featured “exhausted” medical staff who suffer “emotional outbursts”.
“Each includes a young doctor, fresh from medical school and incompetent,” it states.
The defendants have argued that these shared qualities were “generic”, and can be found in any series “involving emergency room doctors”.
“It cannot be that all shows set in an emergency room are derivative of ER,” they contended.
Speaking on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, Wyle previously claimed that they had a “near-miss” with rebooting ER”, and had “uncoupled ourselves from that IP”.
The US court concluded: “We find the details here suffice for a prima facie case.”
Failing a settlement, the lawsuit will now proceed to a jury trial. However, Wyle, Wells and Gemmill were removed from the list of defendents, with the court ruling that they were unaware of the potential for a rights violation in the creation of The Pitt.
“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,” Sherri Crichton told Variety.
The Pitt has been a significant critical and ratings hit for HBO since its premiere in 2025, winning the Emmy Award for Best Drama for two years running. It returns for a third season in January next year.
