An appeals court has dismissed a Broadway producer’s antitrust lawsuit against an actors’ and stage managers’ union.

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An appeals court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by a Tony Award-winning producer who claims the actors’ and stage managers’ union organized an illegal boycott that prevented him from producing Broadway shows.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Manhattan ruled that producer Garth Drabinsky cannot proceed with a $50 million lawsuit alleging that the Actors’ Equity Association violated antitrust and certain state laws, including defamation.

The trade union brings together over 50,000 theatre actors and stage managers.

Luke Hasskamp, ​​​​Drabinsky’s attorney, declined to comment.

Drabinsky, 74, whose hits include “Ragtime” and a 1994 revival of “Show Boat,” claims in his lawsuit that the union conducted an unlawful campaign of defamation and harassment by spreading rumors about him, imposing a one-day work stoppage and placing him on a no-work list to discourage anyone from working with him.

“As long as a union’s actions promote legitimate employee goals, the union retains the benefits of income tax exemption and remains immune from antitrust liability,” a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit said in a decision written by Judge Raymond J. Lohier Jr.

The court found that Equity engaged in the boycott “specifically to protect the wages and working conditions of its members” after cast members of the musical “Paradise Square” objected to unsafe set conditions, a racially hostile work environment and unpaid wages. It noted that Drabinsky claimed he had no control over wages and working conditions, although his lawsuit alleged he controlled hiring, firing and pay during the production.

Al Vincent Jr., executive director of the Actors’ Equity Association, said the union was “pleased that the court agreed with every argument we made and found that Drabinsky’s lawsuit was without merit.”

He said the ruling “will benefit Equity and the labour movement in the future in terms of the right to use the no-work list against employers who harm our members”.

“We are happy to put this behind us,” Vincent added. “Our mission is to protect actors and stage managers from employers like Drabinsky, and no amount of intimidation will stop us.”

“Paradise Square,” which explored the racial conflict between black Americans and Irish immigrants during the 1863 Civil War race riots in New York City, closed on Broadway in July 2022 after 23 previews and 108 performances. Drabinsky’s “Ragtime” played on Broadway for two years.

Drabinsky, a Canadian citizen, was sentenced in that country in August 2009 to seven years in prison for fraud by a judge who found that he and another producer filed false financial statements to investors to distort the financial health of their company.