Photo: Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Former "General Hospital" actor Ingo Rademacher - - who was fired in 2021 after 25 years with the show for opposing the network's directive to be vaccinated against the coronavirus -- is asking a judge to quash a network subpoena seeking records from a nonprofit group, allegedly to see if the organization is funding his case.
Rademacher's new motion, brought Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks a quashing of a subpoena served on Protection for the Educational Rights of Kids. PERK's website states it is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering parents and educators to take an active role in education- centered legislation.
The 50-year-old Rademacher sued ABC on Dec. 13, claiming he was denied a religious exemption from getting the vaccine after an interview in which the network had an attorney present, but the actor was denied the same opportunity.
When ABC decided to recognize exemptions to its vaccine mandate, it had to honor all of them, and Rademacher's right to medical privacy also was violated, the suit states. In addition to asking a judge to find the ABC vaccine mandate unconstitutional, Rademacher seeks compensatory damages.
ABC's subpoena seeks confidential communications and attorney work product between Rademacher, his lawyer and "a speculated litigation funder," all of which do nothing to prove the actor's claims or the network's defenses, according to Rademacher's attorneys' court papers.
"The subpoena is merely ABC's campaign of intimidation to harass and pressure Ingo to drop the case against them," Rademacher's lawyers state in their court papers. "As an ill-fated means of garnering litigation leverage in this action, ABC has set about to intentionally harass every single person that Ingo may have spoken to in the last five years to destroy Ingo's character and ascertain how someone could afford to bring such a case against ABC."
The network is not entitled to sensitive, private information that is irrelevant to Rademacher's allegations concerning privacy rights and unlawful discrimination, through a subpoena or otherwise, nor is ABC permitted to know whether any person or entity is financing his lawsuit, according to the actor's attorneys' court papers.
In a sworn declaration, Rademacher says he and PERK had discussions both with and without his attorney present. He further says he expected that any talks with PERK would remain confidential.
"The disclosure of this information -- all communication or information provided to PERK -- is an improper intrusion on my constitutional privacy rights and attorney-client relationship," Rademacher says. "Whether I obtain litigation funding or not for this case, such a decision and information surrounding the same is my own prerogative and a private matter."
A hearing on Rademacher's motion to quash the subpoena is scheduled Sept. 8 before Judge Stephen Goorvitch.
Rademacher portrayed the character of tycoon Jasper "Jax" Jacks on "General Hospital." He is a member of the board of Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based environmental organization.