A former high-ranking employee at the House of Blues (HOB) Downtown Disney is suing the Anaheim establishment for California Labor Code violations including wrongful termination and defamation, and he's spilling what he's says are dirty secrets.
In a lawsuit filed this month in Orange County Superior Court, George James Fischer alleges that HOB and Live Nation, its owner, systematically schemed to violate laws and then targeted him, an HOB general manager, for retaliation after he complained.
Among Fischer's allegations about HOB's upper management:
]
–Supervisors “instructed and authorized that HOB oversell entertainment
shows on a regular basis to increase revenues and profits.”
–Supervisors ordered employees to “provide false documentation” to the Anaheim Fire Department regarding excessive occupancy.
–HOB officials “regularly” permitted underage drinking and marijuana smoking by minors in backstage areas during performances.
Fischer
(AKA Jamie Fisher) claims that when he complained about problems he
“was advised not to question such practices or risk losing his job.”
In
July 2010, Fischer said HOB retaliated against him by firing him without
notice and refusing to pay owed wages. In his lawsuit, he claims the
reason company officials gave for the dismissal–that he used HOB's
liquor license to purchase booze for Johnny's Saloon, a Huntington Beach restaurant he partially owns–was bogus because it was “conduct known and authorized” by company officials.
Furthermore,
Fischer claims in the suit that HOB officials have publicly stated he
was fired for “stealing” and is a “thief” when, he says, they knew those
descriptions were false and defamatory.
He is seeking more than $1 million in damages.
Lawyers for HOB have not yet filed a response in court. Attempts to reach someone from HOB have so far been unsuccessful, but this post will be updated should the Weekly receive a response.
The case has been assigned to Superior Court Judge David T. McEachen in Orange County's Central Courthouse.
–R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.