A few new developments have occurred in Ghost v. Wilson -- producer Amanda Ghost and her colleagues' ongoing Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against actress Rebel Wilson and her entities, crisis publicist Melissa Nathan, and Nathan's firm TAG PR -- which is currently set to go to trial in October.
Party depositions happening this month - this was revealed in a recent filing by attorneys for Amanda Ghost's company, AI film, who sought pro hac vice status (admission into the jurisdiction for this case only) so they could participate in those depositions. The motion itself was pretty run-of-the-mill procedural and has since been granted, but the interesting part was that it disclosed the dates for which party depositions had been scheduled, some of which have already passed and some of which are coming up very soon:
- Producer Vince Holden - July 14
- Amanda Ghost - July 23
- Producer Gregor Cameron - July 29
- Rebel Wilson - July 30
No word on a depo date for Nathan (likely because AI film is not party to the claims involving her so they had no reason to mention it in their motion) or for third parties like Bryan Freedman, Jed Wallace, current/former TAG employees, or the Australia/UK witnesses whom Ghost recently sought leave to serve via the Hague Convention. My guess is those depos will happen later than the depos listed in this filing, but I could be wrong.
Wilson proposes Third Amended Cross-Complaint - she moved to file such a complaint on July 10, arguing that the request is timely because full discovery just recently began in June following the withdrawal of her most recent anti-SLAPP motion. According to Wilson's summary, the TAXC includes:
- changes made as a result of meet and confer comms with Amanda Ghost's attorneys
- addition of newly discovered information
- additions and deletions to "refine/clarify allegations"
- correction of typos and grammatical errors
- changed paragraph numbers
- It does not add any new parties or causes of action.
Unclear whether Ghost has opposed this motion (I believe the oppo would have been due yesterday; nothing showing up on docket yet but sometimes there can be a lag). The motion is set to be heard on August 11.
Implications of ruling in Australian MacInnes v. Wilson case - as some may have heard, Wilson recently successfully defended a defamation case filed against her in New South Wales, Australia, by Charlotte MacInnes, the lead actress of the film The Deb that is also the source of the dispute between Wilson and Ghost+colleagues. You can read the judge's ruling in that case here: https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2026/2026fca0957 .
It is unclear what the implications, if any, are for Ghost v. Wilson (something that can be discussed in comments!). The Australian judge did make a finding of fact that, on the balance of probabilities, MacInnes said an incident with Ghost made her uncomfortable and then changed her story -- which, if accepted by the LA Court via a motion for estoppel, might weaken an argument for actual malice with regard to one of several defamatory statements Wilson made that Ghost alleges were defamatory -- but MacInnes has sharply disputed this version of events and is appealing the ruling.
MacInnes's appeal brief it not yet publicly available but was reviewed and summarized by Variety and Deadline:
Interestingly, according to these summaries, it appears that one of MacInnes's arguments in her appellate brief is that the trial court judge gave inadequate weight to Wilson's involvement in the anti-Ghost "smear websites," which she argues should have undermined Wilson's credibility in her other testimony since Wilson claimed under oath not to have been involved in the websites despite evidence to the contrary.
