Dueling Court Filings by ‘Rebecca’ Combatants Reveal Backstage Drama

The Broadway publicist who used to represent the troubled musical “Rebecca” has asked a State Supreme Court judge to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses him of torpedoing the show last fall, arguing that he simply warned a potential investor that its producers had fallen prey to a fraud scheme.

But those producers pushed back this week in a lengthy defense of their lawsuit against their onetime publicist and confidante, Marc Thibodeau, accusing him of subterfuge and destroying “Rebecca” by scaring off the potential investor with grimly worded e-mails sent through phony Gmail accounts. The latest arguments by both sides in the lawsuit - which charged Mr. Thibodeau with defamation and breach of contract and fiduciary duty - are now pending before Justice Jeffrey K. Oing.

These new legal developments in the “Rebecca” saga, a rare backstage Broadway melodrama, began on Feb. 26 when lawyers for Mr. Thibodeau, a veteran spokesman of many Broadway shows, filed the motion to dismiss the producers’ lawsuit filed a month earlier.

In their motion Mr. Thibodeau’s lawyers argued that the “Rebecca” producers didn’t identify a provision in his contract that was breached, and also contended that Mr. Thibodeau - as “an arms-length contractor” on the musical - had no fiduciary obligation to the producers.

“A mere business relationship between parties dealing at arm’s length does not give rise to fiduciary duties,” Mr. Thibodeau’s lawyers wrote, citing two examples of case law. As for defamation, the motion says that Mr. Thibodeau had warned the investor about an alleged fraud scheme that the producers themselves now assert had happened; federal authorities announced in October that they had arrested a Long Island stockbro! ker, Mark C. Hotton, for attempting to defraud the producers. Mr. Hotton is now facing federal fraud charges.

On Monday lawyers for the producers, Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza, filed their own pleading against the Thibodeau dismissal motion. The producers’ lawyers provided copies of the publicist’s contract and the three e-mails that Mr. Thibodeau sent to the investor, Larry Runsdorf, or his attorney, using the aliases of Bethany Walsh and Sarah Finkelstein. (Mr. Thibodeau’s lawyer had previously acknowledged that Mr. Thibodeau did send the emails.) The producers’ lawyers argued that, in sending those e-mails, Mr. Thibodeau did not provide “public relations services as may customarily be required” by Broadway producers. Indeed, the producers’ lawyers continued, Mr. Thibodeau sent out “false and malicious email, each one designed to scare off the Angel Investor from providing a financial lifeline to the show.”

That investor, Mr. Runsdorf, as preparing to put $2.25 million into “Rebecca,” which would have been a big step toward the $12 million capitalization that the producers needed to raise. But he pulled out after receiving the anonymous e-mail. “Rebecca” was postponed, and the producers are now trying to raise money in hopes of mounting it on Broadway and, in doing so, shield themselves against liability for millions of dollars from other investors that have already been spent on the production.

The producers’ legal brief also cites case law stating that a publicist, in an instance like the “Rebecca” production, has a fiduciary duty to demonstrate “utmost good faith and undivided loyalty” to the client. The lawyers for Mr. Sprecher and Ms. Forlenza also state that Mr. Thibodeau breached his contract and fiduciary duty because he was in the production’s inner circle of leadership and was supposed to give advice in the interest of the commercial success of the show. Regarding defamation, the lawyers argued t! hat Mr. T! hibodeau was liable because his e-mails to Mr. Runsdorf misstated facts or reflected opinions based on undisclosed facts.

Mr. Thibodeau’s lawyers have argued that he e-mailed Mr. Runsdorf as a whistleblower looking to inform and protect the potential investor. But the producers’ lawyers argue a more nefarious motive was at work, suggesting that Mr. Thibodeau was in cahoots with other parties who had an interest in scuttling “Rebecca” on Broadway. The producers’ lawyers are continuing a private investigation to try to uncover evidence of such a plot.