by Mike Caswell
Rainmaker Entertainment Inc. is facing a wrongful dismissal suit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia from Luke Carroll, its former motion capture director, claiming that the company unfairly fired him and cut off his benefits while his wife was suffering from a serious illness. He says there was no good reason for his firing, which came after 12 years of service. He only received four months notice, which he claims was unreasonable in the circumstances.
The suit, filed at the Vancouver courthouse on July 3, 2012, identifies Mr. Carroll as a producer of animated movies who lives in Vancouver. He is 41 years old and has two children, who are three and five years old. His wife is unemployed, and has been suffering from anal cancer for the past two years, which is now in remission.
He began working at Rainmaker in November, 1999, at first under a series of contracts and then as a full-time employee starting in March, 2004. His job entailed managing the production, budgeting and scheduling for feature length animated movies. His most recent salary was $182,000 per year, plus group health benefits.