Metropolitan Opera Settles Lawsuit with Mezzo-Soprano Wendy White

By Francisco Salazar
(Credit: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)

The Metropolitan Opera has finally settled its lawsuit with mezzo-soprano Wendy White.

The New York Times is reporting that the case was settled after White was expected to return to court this month, but when a deal was reached with the Met, a scheduled trial was called off.

According to the Times, neither the Met nor White’s lawyers commented on the terms. The Met said that it was settled under “Under the terms of the confidential agreement.”

The lawsuit has been underway for more than a decade as White sued the Met after she was injured in a fall from a platform on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera while singing in a production of “Faust.” According to the mezzo-soprano, she “suffered nerve and muscle damage that prevented her from singing professionally after the accident in 2011.”

The lawsuit is one of the longest-running legal disputes in the company’s history and the case was extended due to many legal filings and appeals.

The accident happened on Dec. 17, 2011, in Des McAnuff’s production of “Faust” while White was singing the role of Marthe. According to reports the “mezzo was walking from a backstage staircase to an elevated platform onstage when a piece of scenery broke and the platform collapsed” and she fell eight feet. Reports and a video noted that audience members heard a loud noise as White fell, and bass Rene Pape, who was singing in the production, called for the curtain to come down. She was eventually taken to the hospital and replaced by her understudy Theodora Hanslowe.

At the time the Met said a hinge connecting the platform to a staircase had failed. They also noted that a house doctor had attended White and that she never lost consciousness.

The case began in 2013 when White sued the Met for negligence and was seeking compensation for medical care, loss of wages, pain, and suffering. In 2012 the New York Times reported that White’s Lawyer Martin W. Edelman, a specialist in personal injury cases said, “The Met, instead of treating her, let’s say, as a member of the family, has treated her in an adversarial way. They cut her off from paying her the rest of the contract and have basically turned their back on her.”

According to experts, the case questioned whether White was an employee or an independent contractor at the Met and White argued she was an independent contractor and an employee of her own.

The Met argued she was a “Special employee.”

According to New York State law, employees injured on the job are covered by workers’ compensation insurance and are not permitted to sue their employers.

In 2015, a New York State Supreme Court judge sided with White arguing that the Met “has not presented sufficient evidence to prove that the plaintiff was an employee of the Met at the time of the accident.” In 2017, New York lawmakers declared that White was not an employee of the Met and could sue the company.  The Met later conceded liability, and a trial was set to determine damages. However, it was delayed on various occasions.

White made her Met debut in 1989 in Verdi’s “La Traviata” and went on to perform with the company in over 500 performances. She performed in productions of “Rigoletto,” “Madama Butterfly,” “Das Rheingold,” “Rusalka,” “Andrea Chenier,” “Wozzeck,” “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “Le Contes d’Hoffmann,” “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” “Der Rosenkavalier,” and “Ernani,” among others. The mezzo has not performed since the accident.

The Metropolitan Opera was sued in 2023 by Sharon Meekins, a retired Met oboe and English horn player who alleged that the company was denying her full retirement benefits. The organization was also sued by Anna Netrebko for canceled contracts and discrimination and the suit has been narrowed down to Gender Discrimination.

The Met’s “Faust” production has not been seen since 2013.

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