Jeremy Piven: Arbitration hearings set for June 8 and 9

Jeremy Piven: Arbitration hearings set for June 8 and 9

A dispute over three-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winning American actor Jeremy Piven's abrupt departure from the Broadway play "Speed the Plow" will be heard by an arbitrator in June.

The show's producers said on Wednesday issuing a statement that the case will be heard on June 8 and 9 in New York by George Nicolau, a professional arbiter. It follows a grievance hearing held on last month at Actors' Equity Association in which a committee of five Equity members and five members of The Broadway League, which represents the producers, did not resolve the dispute.

Jeremy Piven left the Broadway play in December, two months before his run ended, because of health concerns due to mercury poisoning. In a statement, Piven said on Wednesday that the doctors said he could suffer severe medical problems, including a heart attack, if he did not rest.

The producers said in a statement that they were preparing their case and have requested information from Piven "relating to his claims that an alleged illness required him to leave."

The producers said, "The information requested includes, among other things, medical records and documentation of Mr. Piven's activities both during and after the run of the show".

Samantha Mast, a spokeswoman of Jeremy Piven, said that the actor was looking forward to testifying at the arbitration. She said, "The fact that the producers issued a statement announcing the arbitration dates suggests that this is part of a punitive strategy to intimidate actors so that they ignore serious health symptoms and the advice of medical professionals due to fear that they will be sued".