Affleck wants harassment case arbitrated

By Matthew Belloni

Casey Affleck is already moving to squelch those allegations of sexual harassment.

The actor/filmmaker, who was sued Friday for sexual harassment by a producer on his upcoming documentary "I'm Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix," filed a motion today seeking to move the case from the very public Los Angeles Superior Court to private arbitration. Affleck says Amanda White signed an agreement with an arbitration provision requiring that all disputes be resolved quietly.

That's an interesting move, considering that White argues in her complaint that one of the reasons she sued is because she never got a written contract for her producing services.

Regardless, litigator Marty Singer has taken over the case from the production's lawyer Michael Plonsker, who issued an initial statement on Friday denying the charges and vowing to countersue White. That move makes sense: Singer has represented Affleck's brother Ben in past cases.

"This lawsuit is a transparent pressure tactic by someone trying to get more than she's entitled to," Affleck's publicist Ken Sunshine said in a statement. "For 15 months, she tried to use two different attorneys and an agent in a blatant grab for more money, and when each of her other tactics and new theories didn't work, she concocted these desperate, fabricated claims."