The Oakland County Michigan trial in the spring of 1999 brought corporate television executives directly into a criminal-style cross-examination. Flamboyant attorney Geoffrey Fieger, famous for defending assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian, represented Frank Amedure Jr. and the victim's family in a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Telepictures and Warner Bros.
Fieger argued that show producers acted with reckless disregard for human safety. During brutal courtroom exchanges, Fieger forced Jenny Jones to take the stand. Jones repeatedly insisted that Schmitz had appeared agreeable, stating she had no way of anticipating violence. When Fieger pressed Jones on whether producers intentionally manipulated guests for ratings gold, her detached, defensive responses alienated the jury.
Fieger argued before the court that the program acted like a loaded weapon:
"They intentionally ambushed Jonathan Schmitz. They set an ambush, they sprung the trap, and they walked away when the explosion happened."
The strategy succeeded. The jury awarded the Amedure estate $29.3 million in damages. The decision sent immediate shockwaves across Hollywood production studios, threatening to make networks financially responsible for the violent conduct of their unvetted guests.
That victory proved short-lived. In October 2002, the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned the entire judgment in a unanimous 2, 1 decision. The appellate court held that while the show's ambush methods were bizarre and distasteful, producers had no special legal duty to protect Amedure from Schmitz's independent, criminal act. The court ruled that homicide was not an objectively foreseeable consequence of a talk show taping, freeing Warner Bros. from any financial payout.
