Well, I was warned that this place can get lively! So here I go with regards to the Curling lawsuit...
Like Claudia Jordan before her, Debbie Curling registered a complaint about Racial Discrimination on The Price Is Right. And like Jordan before her, Curling’s complaint was largely ignored. Both women took the issue to the next level up the ladder. Jordan went to Freemantle and Curling went to CBS. Jordan was fired off Price Is Right by Barker. Curling was given a complex legal document to sign containing numerous agreements, and on the advice of lawyers she refused to sign it. She was then informed that if she was to continue to work at CBS she would automatically be bound by the agreement even if she did not sign it.
Needless to say these were/are serious legal issues CBS was facing. If Curling sued and it goes to court and is proven that African Americans were denied the opportunity to be a contestant and potentially win cash and prizes based on their race, the words “class action suit” will be ringing in everyone ears.
Curling was given a deadline to sign the document/or continue working which in effect would mean agreeing to the terms and conditions of the agreement. Everyone waited to see what Curling was going to do. It was a very tense time at CBS, Freemantle and especially on 33. That whole week before Curling’s decision people were worried and preoccupied and there were numerous screw-ups, mishaps, stop tapes, including Barker flat out forgetting how to play a game.
The deadline day arrived, Curling refused to sign and had to quit her job in order to preserve her legal rights. Barker was immediately made aware of Curling’s decision. The impasse was over, the lawsuit against the network was in the works, and that afternoon Bob Barker announced his retirement.
Curling’s lawsuit named Roger Dobkowitz as having perpetrated the same essence of retaliation that Claudia Jordan had described experiencing after she also complained of Racial Discrimination on Price.
The key issue is twofold: when did CBS become aware of the conditions on Price that the lawsuit arises from, and what action did they take in response. Barker was out as of that day, Dobkowitz would be out at the end of the new host's first season. I believe that Eskander would have been kept on just thru the second season (IMO you cannot suddenly produce a show that size with a new host, new producer and a new director = disaster). But Curling’s most recent deposition was crucial regarding Eskander and he was gone within days after she testified.
I see that it’s common practice on game show boards to dismiss these people as merely “disgruntled employees”, if you don’t know the facts, or if the source of your information is primarily the Spin Doctors whose job it is to whitewash such situations. But I don’t consider these people “low level” minions who were merely unhappy over a triviality. These were hard working long time employees who lost their jobs, their retirement, their health care, their friends, their lives as they knew them all because they wouldn’t lie, wouldn’t allow themselves or others to be discriminated against, wouldn’t break the law. They are people who spoke out, spoke up, spoke truthfully, refused to have sex, or refused to sign compromising legal documents. They’re not dismissable sore losers, they’re people who had to make very hard choices. In the end they did what they felt was right, and they paid dearly for it.
With regards to the Jordan&Clement-Henry suits, the Curling lawsuit is the first lawsuit that has ever involved the network. It is also the most far reaching and potentially damaging of all. The Jordan&Clement-Henry suits were handled in-house by Freemantle and Barker. Curling did not work for either, she worked for CBS.
