After A Decade, Met Opera Settles On-Stage Injury Lawsuit

More than a decade after a serious onstage accident ended her career, veteran mezzo-soprano Wendy White has settled her lawsuit against the Metropolitan Opera, reports the New York Times. Ms. White was injured during a December 2011 performance of Faust when a platform on the Met stage collapsed, causing her to fall eight feet and sustain injuries that ended her singing career.

The terms of the settlement remain confidential, and neither Ms. White nor the Met has disclosed further details. “Under the terms of the confidential agreement we’re not permitted to comment,” the Met stated. 

The resolution concludes one of the longest-running legal disputes in the Met’s 141-year history. Ms. White’s case began in 2013 when she accused the company of negligence and sought damages for medical care, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Her injuries, which she says caused nerve and muscle damage, ultimately prevented her from continuing to sing professionally.

The legal battle centered on whether Ms. White was an employee of the Met or an independent contractor. New York State law allows employees injured on the job to seek workers’ compensation but bars them from suing their employers. Ms. White’s legal team argued that she was an independent contractor, employed by her own company, Wendy White Inc., while the Met contended she was a “special employee.”

In 2015, a New York State Supreme Court judge sided with Ms. White, ruling that the Met had not sufficiently proven her status as an employee. The Met’s appeal was later rejected. In 2017, New York State lawmakers stepped in, passing legislation that allowed Ms. White to pursue her lawsuit. The bill, sponsored by former New York State Senator John A. DeFrancisco, was signed into law by the governor, clarifying that Ms. White was not an employee of the Met.

The Met conceded liability, and the focus shifted to determining damages. A trial was scheduled for this month, but both parties reached an agreement before the court date.

The incident that injured Ms. White occurred on December 17, 2011, during a performance of Gounod’s Faust. She was crossing an elevated platform behind bass René Pape, who was singing the role of Méphistophélès, when the platform collapsed. Audience members reportedly heard a loud noise as Ms. White fell, and Mr. Pape called for the curtain to come down. The Met stated at the time that a hinge connecting the platform to a staircase had failed.

Ms. White had made her Met debut in 1989 as Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata, and she sang in over 500 performances at the famed opera house. Her career spanned multiple decades and included appearances at leading opera houses worldwide. Since the accident, Ms. White has largely stepped back from public life.

Onstage accidents at the Met are rare but have drawn attention when they occur. In 1990, soprano Hildegard Behrens was struck by a foam-rubber beam during a performance of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, and in 2018, tenor Gary Lehman slid down the inclined stage while singing the role of Tristan in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde when a pallet came loose. He managed to finish the performance despite the incident.

Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, acknowledged in 2018 that occasional incidents are part of the risks in opera production. “There are risks in any production, but certainly what happened was a fluke,” Gelb said. “When you consider that the Met is a repertory theater, with so many different performances, it’s remarkable how few mishaps occur.”