Three former members of the props department on ABC‘s medical drama Doctor Odyssey filed a lawsuit Friday against the network’s parent company Disney and producer 20th Television, alleging they were subject to sexual harassment on the set of the series and eventually retaliated against and terminated when they complained about it.
The suit, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, says the plaintiffs — Caroline Mack, Alicia Haverland and Ava Steinbrenner — were hired in late spring/early summer 2024 to work in the new series’ props department. The defendants then hired Tammie Patton as Prop Master and her husband Tyler Patton as Assistant Prop Master who supervised and directed the plaintiffs in their work.
The suit claims the props department “was an unlawful den of sexual harassment and retaliation,” and that the plaintiffs were subject to “an an unchecked campaign of sexual harassment for months” by “Taylor Patton and his male buddies.”
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Reps for Disney and 20th TV declined comment.
The behavior cited in the lawsuit (read it here) allegedly included “sexual jokes, innuendos, comments, sexual gestures and images, and unwanted touching including, but not limited to: (i) regularly giving Plaintiffs unwanted, lingering hugs; (ii) touching one of the Plaintiff’s thighs; (iii) frequently placing his hands on one of the Plaintiff’s lower back; (iv) placing his arms around Plaintiffs’ necks and forcing them to “walk with him;” and (v) openly grabbing a visiting female employee’s buttocks on set.”
The suit said the plaintiffs eventually went to senior production members to report the misconduct including Tammie Patton, and say they were retaliated against by being forced to do demeaning tasks, and having their jobs threatened.
“Even though Defendants’ Human Resources Department and Senior Management assigned to Dr. Odyssey were fully aware of Tyler Patton’s inappropriate behavior and the retaliation his wife/Plaintiffs’ boss Tammie Patton engaged in, they took no action to prevent it,” says the suit. “In fact, Defendants’ human resources was asleep at the wheel and permitted the frustrated managers/producers on set to handle these conflicts on their own. This led to Plaintiffs suffering additional mistreatment, retaliation, and emotional distress.”
In the end, the plaintiffs say that rather than taking action against the alleged harassers, the defendants informed the entire props department in August that it was being terminated. That became effective at the end of September.
“Defendants took the ‘easy’ way out choosing to eliminate not only the wrongdoers — Prop Master Tammie Patton and Assistant Prop Master Tyler Patton — but all of the remaining employees in the Props Department who had been subject to the wrongdoers’ misconduct,” the suit says.
As a result, the plaintiffs are claiming wrongful termination in addition to claims of sexual harassment, failure to prevent harassment and retaliation.
The suit also cites negligent hiring on the part of Disney, Fox and co-defendant Entertainment Partners, saying the defendants knew Tyler Patton had been subject to similar accusations and lawsuit on the set of the mid-2000s Fox medical drama series House. “Notably, there was some overlap between employees on Dr. Odyssey and employees on the set of House,” the suit says.
The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial.
Doctor Odyssey, from Ryan Murphy and starring Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson, debuted its first season in September and is on the bubble for a Season 2 pickup. It was not on ABC’s fall 2025 schedule when that was announced earlier this month at the broadcast upfronts.
Patrick Hipes
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