A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider can move forward with his defamation lawsuit over allegations made in Discovery's investigations Quiet on the set Limited series.
Schneider filed the lawsuit against Warner Bros Discovery, Maxine Productions, Sony Pictures, and Quiet on the set Producers Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz were defamed after the series premiered in March 2024.
In the ruling on November 22, Justice Ashfaq J. Chowdhury filed an attempt by WBD and Maxine Productions to dismiss the suit. “It is clear that this is not a case brought by Schneider on frivolous grounds, simply to harass the defendants,” the court’s ruling said. “He is suing the defendants over a documentary they made about him, focusing on his activities, which a reasonable viewer might conclude had damaging implications for his conduct.”
Chowdhury agreed with Schneider and his attorney that “defamation can be implied, and the trailer and documentary state or imply that Schneider sexually abused children who worked on his show and that Schneider was a child sex abuser.”
In the lawsuit, Schneider described the series as a “successful hit” that destroyed his “legacy and reputation.” The limited series that was a ratings boon for ID exposed how two child sex abusers operated on his shows — dialogue coach Brian Beck and former production assistant Jason Handy — but Schneider claims in the lawsuit that he “had no knowledge of their abuse, was and is not complicit in “Abuse them.”
Schneider issued the statement below after filing the lawsuit in March seeking unspecified damages:
“More recently docuseries Quiet on the set It highlighted the mistakes I made and the poor judgment I displayed during my time at Nickelodeon, most of which occurred decades ago during my early career as a producer, working on shows for Tollin/Robins Productions. There is no doubt that I have been a bad leader at times. “I deeply apologize and regret this behavior, and I will continue to take responsibility for it.”
