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American Morning

Interview with Michael Nader, Joseph Ranni

Aired January 07, 2003 - 09:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of daytime TV viewers know actor Michael Nader as Count Dimitri Marick, the role he played on ABC's "All My Children" for nearly a decade. Even before that, Nader was a famous face on the classic prime time soap "Dynasty." You all remember that.
But his career came crashing down nearly two years ago when he was busted for drug possession. Now Nader has cleaned up his act, and he happens to be suing the network to get his job back.

Michael Nader joins us this morning along with his attorney, Joseph Ranni -- good to see both of you.

JOSEPH RANNI, ATTORNEY: Thank you.

ZAHN: So, help us better understand how you're pursuing this. You are doing this through the Americans with Disabilities Act, and there are a lot of people sitting in audience today that wouldn't understand how drug addiction might fall under the same category as, for example, someone who is afflicted with being a paraplegic.

MICHAEL NADER, ACTOR: Yes, I can understand that. I think what the main issue here is, is that it is not so much a -- I separate drug addiction, I do have an addictive personality, I have had that problem in my life. I don't know if the public knows, but for 17 years, I was drug and alcohol free from a 12-step program. So for this event to resurface later in my life was devastating, obviously, to me. I think where the disability comes in is that it comes into the law in terms of how I was treated, not is it a disability to have an addictive problem.

ZAHN: And what is that it you're the most angry about?

NADER: Well...

ZAHN: The circumstances surrounding your arrest?

NADER: Oh, no, no, no.

ZAHN: Or how you were treated after that point?

NADER: I take full responsibility -- I take full responsibility. I was mortified by what took place to me. I was mortified by not having been able to stay in my recovery for all those years. But basically what happened is that I met all of the criteria that ABC asked me to meet in terms of getting back -- you know, my life back. I went away, I did my recovery, I came back, I enrolled in an outpatient program for another year at Hazelton, New York, so I was ready to go back to my craft and go back to work.

ZAHN: Now, was this a written agreement that you made that was like a side agreement to what your contract stipulated?

NADER: No, I don't think so. No, absolutely, there wasn't a signed contract.

ZAHN: This was a verbal discussion you had with them? They told you to do all of the things that you said you did, and then, in the end, what did they do to you?

NADER: Well, they said rest in your recovery, we'll get back to you. And nine months later, I had a meeting with them with my lawyers, and they said, We do not want you on the show, and we never want you back on the show.

ZAHN: Now do you understand that? ABC News -- excuse me, ABC would not comment on this particular suit, but you certainly have to understand that they are very interested, particularly with this relationship forms with fans of the show in presenting someone, perhaps with a wholesome image, do you get that?

NADER: Oh, absolutely, and I have that image and I still do. I would like to thank my fans for the kind support that they have given me through the Web site, they're very supportive. There was a big outcry to -- as a member of the ABC family, to take this time to treat him as a family member, not as somebody that was of such disservice. I was on the show for 10 years. So there was a big outcry to have me on. In fact, to my understanding, my character is not off the show. He's still talked about, he's on a business trip, so...

ZAHN: That is one heck of a business trip.

Let's talk about what you're asking for specifically, because your contract stipulated how many millions of dollars?

RANNI: Four hundred and some odd per year, based...

ZAHN: Thousand, 400,000.

RANNI: Yes. Based upon...

ZAHN: But you're suing for what amount?

RANNI: Well, when they misrepresented that they were going to let him back, when they said stay in your recovery, the contract is going to protect you, that we are going to follow the contract and bring you back, that's a misrepresentation. That is fraudulent activity in order to make sure that, No. 1, he didn't perform for them, and No. 2, he couldn't perform for others.

And it was that conduct in keeping him out of performing and removing him from the public eye that was their intention in dragging out the process before they finally fired him months later.

ZAHN: And that's why you say he deserves almost $30 million? RANNI: Well, I think the fraud and the misrepresentation, absolutely. People can't misrepresent to the disabled or people who are protected by law that they're going to follow the law, they are going to follow the contracts, and then go a different way and discriminate against that person because of the disability.

ZAHN: Michael, what happens to you if you don't win? Will anybody hire you now?

NADER: Well, I would hope so. I did "Dick Wolf," I did "SVU" last year, and I'm sure that they were aware of the situation at that time. And I think that if I work and people like my work -- again, there is another discriminatory thing, if I don't win, will I ever work again? Why? Because I tried to stand up for my rights?

ZAHN: The question is, I guess, more of a financial question...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: ... other jobs, that's why I asked that.

NADER: While the litigation is going on, it has been hands off. There has been a sense of that. And you know, that's some of the flak I have to take.

ZAHN: Well, we will continue to follow your story. Michael Nader, Joseph Ranni, thank you both for stopping by.

We are going to talk with our legal expert across the studio to find out what chances you might have of succeeding -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Paula. Let's talk to our Jeffrey Toobin here, our legal analyst for his perspective right now on this lawsuit.

Disability -- is there a claim here or not?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it is true that the Americans with Disability Act says that being addicted to drugs can be a disability, but that's a long way from Michael winning his lawsuit.

There are lots of reasons you can be fired, even if do you have a disability. If you don't fulfill your contract, if you're arrested, if you violate some provision of the contract. So, yes, addition can be a disability, but there are still lots of other reasons a company can fire you.

HEMMER: Can you get in here and claim, Hey, it is genetics, and I am just a fabric of my own genes, and this is what led me to this?

TOOBIN: That's -- that's I think, right, you can make that claim, but that's not the whole case. The case isn't over there -- what's interesting about the Americans with Disability Act, it was signed during first President Bush's term. It is really one of the biggest changes in the law that has happened in the last couple of decades. It didn't get as much attention when it was passed, but there huge numbers of cases in the courts, and it's a very broad law, a lot of people have been able to sue under it.

HEMMER: Such as drug abuse, such as alcohol abuse, have you seen other cases that would line up similar to what we are talking about here?

TOOBIN: There are a lot of claims made. It is much more common, blindness, paraplegia, the kind of diseases that we traditionally associate with disability, those are really the cases win. Remember, Casey Martin (ph), the golfer who sued to be able to use a golf cart in PGA. He won his case in the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a very broad law. I don't pretend to know the details of why Michael was fired, but it is certainly a possible case, the courts which consider, not I.

HEMMER: Meanwhile, that business trip, a very long one, continues.

TOOBIN: That's right. Well, the count may be back, we don't know.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 7, 2003 - 09:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of daytime TV viewers know actor Michael Nader as Count Dimitri Marick, the role he played on ABC's "All My Children" for nearly a decade. Even before that, Nader was a famous face on the classic prime time soap "Dynasty." You all remember that.
But his career came crashing down nearly two years ago when he was busted for drug possession. Now Nader has cleaned up his act, and he happens to be suing the network to get his job back.

Michael Nader joins us this morning along with his attorney, Joseph Ranni -- good to see both of you.

JOSEPH RANNI, ATTORNEY: Thank you.

ZAHN: So, help us better understand how you're pursuing this. You are doing this through the Americans with Disabilities Act, and there are a lot of people sitting in audience today that wouldn't understand how drug addiction might fall under the same category as, for example, someone who is afflicted with being a paraplegic.

MICHAEL NADER, ACTOR: Yes, I can understand that. I think what the main issue here is, is that it is not so much a -- I separate drug addiction, I do have an addictive personality, I have had that problem in my life. I don't know if the public knows, but for 17 years, I was drug and alcohol free from a 12-step program. So for this event to resurface later in my life was devastating, obviously, to me. I think where the disability comes in is that it comes into the law in terms of how I was treated, not is it a disability to have an addictive problem.

ZAHN: And what is that it you're the most angry about?

NADER: Well...

ZAHN: The circumstances surrounding your arrest?

NADER: Oh, no, no, no.

ZAHN: Or how you were treated after that point?

NADER: I take full responsibility -- I take full responsibility. I was mortified by what took place to me. I was mortified by not having been able to stay in my recovery for all those years. But basically what happened is that I met all of the criteria that ABC asked me to meet in terms of getting back -- you know, my life back. I went away, I did my recovery, I came back, I enrolled in an outpatient program for another year at Hazelton, New York, so I was ready to go back to my craft and go back to work.

ZAHN: Now, was this a written agreement that you made that was like a side agreement to what your contract stipulated?

NADER: No, I don't think so. No, absolutely, there wasn't a signed contract.

ZAHN: This was a verbal discussion you had with them? They told you to do all of the things that you said you did, and then, in the end, what did they do to you?

NADER: Well, they said rest in your recovery, we'll get back to you. And nine months later, I had a meeting with them with my lawyers, and they said, We do not want you on the show, and we never want you back on the show.

ZAHN: Now do you understand that? ABC News -- excuse me, ABC would not comment on this particular suit, but you certainly have to understand that they are very interested, particularly with this relationship forms with fans of the show in presenting someone, perhaps with a wholesome image, do you get that?

NADER: Oh, absolutely, and I have that image and I still do. I would like to thank my fans for the kind support that they have given me through the Web site, they're very supportive. There was a big outcry to -- as a member of the ABC family, to take this time to treat him as a family member, not as somebody that was of such disservice. I was on the show for 10 years. So there was a big outcry to have me on. In fact, to my understanding, my character is not off the show. He's still talked about, he's on a business trip, so...

ZAHN: That is one heck of a business trip.

Let's talk about what you're asking for specifically, because your contract stipulated how many millions of dollars?

RANNI: Four hundred and some odd per year, based...

ZAHN: Thousand, 400,000.

RANNI: Yes. Based upon...

ZAHN: But you're suing for what amount?

RANNI: Well, when they misrepresented that they were going to let him back, when they said stay in your recovery, the contract is going to protect you, that we are going to follow the contract and bring you back, that's a misrepresentation. That is fraudulent activity in order to make sure that, No. 1, he didn't perform for them, and No. 2, he couldn't perform for others.

And it was that conduct in keeping him out of performing and removing him from the public eye that was their intention in dragging out the process before they finally fired him months later.

ZAHN: And that's why you say he deserves almost $30 million? RANNI: Well, I think the fraud and the misrepresentation, absolutely. People can't misrepresent to the disabled or people who are protected by law that they're going to follow the law, they are going to follow the contracts, and then go a different way and discriminate against that person because of the disability.

ZAHN: Michael, what happens to you if you don't win? Will anybody hire you now?

NADER: Well, I would hope so. I did "Dick Wolf," I did "SVU" last year, and I'm sure that they were aware of the situation at that time. And I think that if I work and people like my work -- again, there is another discriminatory thing, if I don't win, will I ever work again? Why? Because I tried to stand up for my rights?

ZAHN: The question is, I guess, more of a financial question...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: ... other jobs, that's why I asked that.

NADER: While the litigation is going on, it has been hands off. There has been a sense of that. And you know, that's some of the flak I have to take.

ZAHN: Well, we will continue to follow your story. Michael Nader, Joseph Ranni, thank you both for stopping by.

We are going to talk with our legal expert across the studio to find out what chances you might have of succeeding -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Paula. Let's talk to our Jeffrey Toobin here, our legal analyst for his perspective right now on this lawsuit.

Disability -- is there a claim here or not?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it is true that the Americans with Disability Act says that being addicted to drugs can be a disability, but that's a long way from Michael winning his lawsuit.

There are lots of reasons you can be fired, even if do you have a disability. If you don't fulfill your contract, if you're arrested, if you violate some provision of the contract. So, yes, addition can be a disability, but there are still lots of other reasons a company can fire you.

HEMMER: Can you get in here and claim, Hey, it is genetics, and I am just a fabric of my own genes, and this is what led me to this?

TOOBIN: That's -- that's I think, right, you can make that claim, but that's not the whole case. The case isn't over there -- what's interesting about the Americans with Disability Act, it was signed during first President Bush's term. It is really one of the biggest changes in the law that has happened in the last couple of decades. It didn't get as much attention when it was passed, but there huge numbers of cases in the courts, and it's a very broad law, a lot of people have been able to sue under it.

HEMMER: Such as drug abuse, such as alcohol abuse, have you seen other cases that would line up similar to what we are talking about here?

TOOBIN: There are a lot of claims made. It is much more common, blindness, paraplegia, the kind of diseases that we traditionally associate with disability, those are really the cases win. Remember, Casey Martin (ph), the golfer who sued to be able to use a golf cart in PGA. He won his case in the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a very broad law. I don't pretend to know the details of why Michael was fired, but it is certainly a possible case, the courts which consider, not I.

HEMMER: Meanwhile, that business trip, a very long one, continues.

TOOBIN: That's right. Well, the count may be back, we don't know.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com