Judge rules against Yari

A Los Angeles judge has delivered a legal setback to producer Bob Yari’s challenge over the removal of his name from the credits as a producer of the Oscar-winning film “Crash.”

In a six-page ruling this week, Superior Court Judge Edward A. Ferns rejected arguments by Yari’s lawyers that the Producers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are quasi-public organizations whose members’ decision can be challenged through the hearing process.

Yari’s attorneys now have 10 days to file new facts to support their claims of wrongful denial of the right of fair procedure and breach of implied contract.

Yari sued the guild and the academy in March, alleging that they had unlawfully ruled that he did not deserve a producer credit for “Crash.” That prevented Yari from going on stage to accept the Academy Award for best picture. Yari was one of six producers on the film, but the guild determined in an arbitration that he and three other producers were ineligible for producer credit.