Charlie Sheen's Lawyer to Warner Bros: ‘We Will Sue’

Marty Singer tells THR "they have no basis to suspend or terminate" the actor.

March

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6:18 PM 3/7/2011 by Matthew Belloni

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Marty Singer

Charlie Sheen’s attorney is already responding to his client’s termination Monday by Warner Bros. from Two and a Half Men:

“We will sue,” Sheen lawyer Marty Singer tells THR in a phone interview. “It’s a matter of when. It could be this week, it could be in a little while. We’re in no rush. But we will sue.”

Singer has exchanged a series of increasingly rancorous letters with Warner Bros. since production on the hit CBS series was shut down in February. The litigator says he was not surprised Warners moved to terminate Sheen’s employment, but he maintains his position that the studio is in breach of its agreement with Sheen despite the actor’s erratic behavior and incendiary comments directed at Men co-creator Chuck Lorre. “They have no basis to suspend or terminate Charlie Sheen,” he says.

Warners, in a letter from attorney John Spiegel to the Sheen camp, claims Sheen "has been engaged in dangerously self-destructive conduct and appears to be very ill,” and was fired for disrupting the show and violating a clause in his contract by committing "a felony offense involving moral turpitude."

But Singer says Warners, which made Sheen the highest-paid sitcom star in television despite his repeated and public brushes with the law, has opened itself up to a massive lawsuit.

“Their position is absolutely ridiculous,” Singer says. “Warner Bros. had no objection to my client pleading guilty to a felony while they were actively negotiating his new deal—they did his deal before his plea bargain!”

Singer reveals that Warners’ letter terminating Sheen’s services was sent in response to a blistering letter Singer sent WBTV on March 2 outlining his client’s case against the studio. That letter, a copy of which was obtained by THR, claims the following:

“From January 2010, even after my client was arrested and then charged with a felony and misdemeanor charges, Warner Bros. did not suspend my client. Instead it wanted my client to agree to commit to do additional seasons of [Men]. Warner Bros. confirmed that it would continue to employ Mr. Sheen even if he pleaded guilty to a felony as long as he did not serve jail time that would interfere with the production schedule.”

Singer maintains the real reason Sheen was fired was because he offended Lorre, the studio’s top showrunner. Lorre would also be a defendant in a lawsuit.

“This is nothing but Warner Bros. acting on behalf of Chuck Lorre,” Singer tells THR.