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Ingo Rademacher demanded the court reopen his lawsuit against ABC over his firing from General Hospital after he dragged his costar Steve Burton into the drama, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Ingo, 53, argued he had new evidence that should be reviewed by the judge.
Ingo sued ABC over the network’s vaccine mandate during the pandemic. He said he was fired from General Hospital after 25 years due to his refusal to comply with the mandate.
The lawsuit accused the defendants of religious discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and violation of his right to privacy. ABC denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
The network argued the decision to terminate Ingo was based on health reasons, not due to his religious beliefs.
ABC also fired Ingo’s costar Steve, 54, for his refusal to follow the network’s mandate. However, in his new motion, Ingo pointed out Steve was rehired by General Hospital in January.
In June 2023, ABC defeated the lawsuit brought by Ingo. He appealed the decision.
In hit motion for a new trial, Ingo’s lawyer argued, “ABC’s re-hiring of Mr. Burton undermines its argument that Ingo’s political beliefs did not play any role in its decision to fire him—to ‘recast’ his role—in 2021.” Ingo said he was able to discover emails and texts from General Hospital producers slamming him over his political beliefs.
He said despite the evidence, the judge in the case dismissed the claims.
His lawyer wrote, “Judge Goorvitch credited ABC’s evidence that the political animus that the General Hospital producers showed toward Ingo was irrelevant because, like other people, including GH actor Steve Burton, it simply could not accommodate Ingo’s objection to COVID-19 vaccination and fired him only for that reason.”
“That argument was always specious. But it carries even less weight now, given the newly discovered evidence that ABC re-hired [Steve] for General Hospital but did not re-hire Ingo,” his lawyer continued.
The lawyer argued, “This new evidence is compelling. It undermines ABC’s argument that the political animus the GH producers showed toward Ingo did not matter. It confirms Ingo’s argument that ABC intended to get rid of him—to recast his character—which preceded the Covid vaccination policy. It is additional evidence from which a jury could disbelieve ABC’s explanation and rule in Ingo’s favor.”
“As the new year dawns, the Court should take this opportunity to grant a new trial based on the newly discovered evidence regarding ABC’s re-hiring of [Steve] and set the case for a jury trial on the wrongful termination claim.”
In the motion, Ingo, who played Jasper ‘Jax’ Jacks on the soap, said he reached a three-year deal in 2018 to return after a short hiatus.
He said ABC offered to pay him $2,900 per episode in the first year to $3,1000 in the second year and $3,300 in the third year. The deal was signed in February 2019.
Ingo said he spoke out during the 2020 election for Donald Trump. Ingo said the producers trashed talked his views in private conversations and his storylines dwindled.
He said the judge determined the texts talking about his political views was irrelevant because Steve had also been fired.
Ingo argues that, “The evidence of [Steve’s] rehiring, but not Ingo’s, should change the court’s summary judgment ruling. It confirms that, contrary to ABC’s argument, it was not judge Ingo’s vaccination status that mattered. It was him: his political beliefs and his political commentary. That is why, unlike [Steve], ABC will never re-hire him for [General Hospital].”
ABC has yet to respond to the motion.
English (US) ·