General Hospital’s Ingo Rademacher Shut Down in Fight With ABC After Dragging Steve Burton Into Mess
Fired General Hospital star Ingo Rademacher was shut down in his plea for his wrongful termination lawsuit against ABC to be revived due to new evidence, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, on February 25, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied Ingo’s motion, which asked that the case against the network go to trial.
Ingo, 53, who starred on the soap opera for over 25 years as Jasper “Jax” Jacks, sued ABC in 2021.
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He claimed he was fired for refusing to comply with the network’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for cast and crew. In his suit, Ingo claimed he asked for a religious exemption but was denied. The actor claimed he was the victim of religious discrimination and retaliation by the network. He claimed the producers had issues with his political views.
Ingo said he showed support for Donald Trump, which he believed played a role in his firing. ABC denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
The network argued they did not discriminate against Ingo. In June 2023, the case was dismissed before it went to trial.
Ingo appealed the decision to dismiss the case.
As In Touch first reported, in December 2024, Ingo and his legal team rushed back to court, asking for the court to review new evidence.
Ingo hoped the new evidence would convince the judge that a jury should hear the case and make a decision.
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The new evidence that Ingo presented was the fact that his former costar Steve Burton, who was also fired over his refusal to get the vaccine, was rehired by General Hospital producers in January 2024.
Ingo’s lawyer argued, “ABC’s re-hiring of Mr. Burton undermines its argument that Ingo’s political beliefs did not play any role in its decision to fire him—to ‘recast’ his role—in 2021.”
His lawyer wrote, “Judge Goorvitch credited ABC’s evidence that the political animus that the General Hospital producers showed toward Ingo was irrelevant because, like other people, including GH actor Steve Burton, it simply could not accommodate Ingo’s objection to COVID-19 vaccination and fired him only for that reason.”
“That argument was always specious. But it carries even less weight now, given the newly discovered evidence that ABC re-hired [Steve] for General Hospital but did not re-hire Ingo,” his lawyer continued.
The lawyer argued, “This new evidence is compelling. It undermines ABC’s argument that the political animus the GH producers showed toward Ingo did not matter. It confirms Ingo’s argument that ABC intended to get rid of him — to recast his character — which preceded the Covid vaccination policy. It is additional evidence from which a jury could disbelieve ABC’s explanation and rule in Ingo’s favor.”
ABC opposed Ingo’s motion.
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Lawyers for the network said Steve was rehired in 2024, “years after the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency and at a time when [ABC’s] vaccine mandate was no longer in effect. Thus, his rehiring has no logical impact on [Ingo’s] claims.”
In the recent order, the court said it cannot say “with intellectual honesty” that Steve’s rehiring, “without more information, would likely result in a different decision” to dismiss the case.
The judge said the mere fact that Steve was rehired does not suggest that Ingo was terminated for his political beliefs. The court said Ingo would have to file a new lawsuit if he wanted to raise this argument about Steve.
The motion for a trial was denied.
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