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A federal judge dismissed the ongoing lawsuit over Showtime’s “George & Tammy” limited series last week. The suit was originally filed by the estate of George Richey over misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.

Sheila Slaughter Richey, the executrix of the estate of the late George Richey, served as the plaintiff in this case. The lawsuit claimed that Steve Zahn’s portrayal of Richey led to “unjust enrichment and tortious interference.” Specifically, the suit revolved around the opening credits of the show, which stated the series was based on Georgette Jones’ book, “The Three of Us: Growing Up With Tammy and George.” Jones, the daughter of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, also served as a consulting producer on the six-episode series and previously faced legal action from Sheila Slaughter Richey over the contents of her book.

But in the ruling a Delaware judge noted that a plaintiff “who cries unjust enrichment must have actually enriched somebody.

A judge in Delaware has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Showtime over the limited series “George & Tammy” and its portrayal of the late George Richey, who was married to Tammy Wynette after her divorce from George Jones. In tossing the suit out, the judge ruled that, whatever merits there might be to the complaints of the plaintiff, Sheila Slaughter Richey, there was no basis for including Showtime Networks in the suit at all, let alone as the sole defendant.

The suit had claimed that George Richey was disparaged and made into the villain of “George & Richey.” Judge Stephanos Bibas did not take issue with that characterization made by Sheila Slaughter Richey’s lawyers, and he dismissed it without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled. But his ruling said essentially that the plaintiff’s beef was solely with Georgette Jones, the daughter of George Jones, who was not named as a defendant,...

Showtime is being sued by the family of Tammy Wynette‘s fifth husband, George Richey, for what it claims is a negative portrayal of Richey in the network’s limited series George & Tammy. As reported by Variety, Richey’s wife, Sheila Slaughter Richey, and their daughter, Tatum Keys Richey, filed the suit against Showtime for depicting Richey “as a devious husband who abused Wynette and Richey’s prior wife, facilitated and encouraged Wynette’s addiction to prescription painkillers, and engaged in financial and managerial manipulation of Wynette.” The White Lotus actor Steve Zahn portrayed Richey in the series, which premiered on Showtime on December 4, 2022. The show also starred Jessica Chastain as Tammy Wynette and Michael Shannon as George Jones. A spokesperson for Showtime responded to the lawsuit, stating, “We see no plausible basis for any claim against Showtime,” as per Variety. Steve Zahn as George Richey in ‘George & Tammy...

The family of Tammy Wynette’s fifth husband George Richey has filed a lawsuit against Showtime, alleging that the network’s George & Tammy limited series disparaged Richey as a “villain.”

The suit was filed, our sister site Variety reports, on behalf of Richey’s wife Sheila Slaughter Richey and their daughter Tatum Keys Richey. (George Richey died in 2010.) The suit says that George & Tammy depicts Richey, played by Steve Zahn, “as a devious husband who abused Wynette and Richey’s prior wife, facilitated and encouraged Wynette’s addiction to prescription painkillers, and engaged in financial and managerial manipulation of Wynette.

Showtime has been hit with a lawsuit over “George & Tammy” by the estate of country star Tammy Wynette’s fifth and last husband, George Richey. His heirs contend that the critically acclaimed miniseries disparaged Richey as the “villain” of the tortured love story between Wynette and George Jones, in violation of a previous non-disparagement agreement with Georgette Jones, the daughter of the titular couple and a key participant in the series.

Georgette Jones is not named as a defendant; only Showtime is. But because she was a consulting producer on the miniseries, as well as being the writer of the memoir that was the basis for the script, the lawsuit claims that the 2022 release of “George & Tammy” represented the network’s “tortious interference” in a 2015 settlement agreement the estate had made with Jones not to defame or disparage Richey, played by Steve Zahn in the series

A Showtime...