Nick Marino v. Writers Guild of America, East, Inc. Writers Guild of America, West, Inc. Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo

Nick Marino appeals the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the Writers Guild of America (“WGA”), Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo in Marino’s action seeking to vacate an arbitration award. WGA, as arbitrator, awarded screenwriting credit for “Godfather III” to Coppola and Puzo, and not to Marino and his cohort, Thomas Wright. Marino contends that the arbitration procedures used to determine the screenwriting credit were fundamentally unfair. Marino also argues that WGA violated its duty of fair representation by adopting the arbitration procedures and by failing to follow those procedures. Finally, Marino challenges the district court’s denial of his request to discover the identities of the arbitrators. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

The WGA is a labor union which was certified as the collective bargaining representative of screenwriters in the movie industry. Marino has been a WGA member since 1985. Pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between WGA and the employers of writers in the movie industry, WGA determines which writers will receive screen credit for the writing of a screenplay. Both economic benefits and the writer’s status in the industry are affected by the…