Trinity Broadcasting have put their cards on the pulpit and the clock is ticking on whether Dr. Phil will be facing a judge today in Dallas, possible sanctions, or be on the other side of asking questions in deposition very soon in his legal Holy War with the Christian TV giant.
“We are again confronted with the same discovery failures the Court has already fully addressed,” declared TBN late yesterday in an emergency relief filing in the ongoing dispute over a $500 million production and distribution deal gone bad and efforts by Phil McGraw‘s Peteski Productions and Merit Street Media to stiff creditors by taking the Chapter 11 route.
A couple years after exiting CBS after over two decades and hooking up with Trinity Broadcasting in the big bucks agreement that took flight in April 2024 Dr. Phil sued the faith-based out for breach of contract and saw his floundering MSM file for bankruptcy. Last week, TSN, who have the support of the TKO Group Holdings (a.k.a. Ari Emanuel’s shop) owned Professional Bull Riders, countersued Donald Trump pal McGraw and Peteski “for their reprehensible conduct” of lies, “a false sense of urgency,” and strong arming for millions but delivering little in return. On August 19, a spokesperson for the ICE ride along Dr. Phil claimed “TBN’s latest lawsuit is riddled with provable lies.”
Tuesday, TSN, again backed up on the docket by PBR, sought a hearing today at 5 pm CT on the emergency relief motion and financial sanctions against Dr. Phil and his company for not handing over the documents they were ordered to already by the courts.
Whether it happens or not at this point, Dr. Phil is currently set to sit down for a likely grueling seven hours long deposition on Thursday. A present schedule that could in TBN’s POV leave them woefully unprepared on August 28 due to Dr, Phil’s “discovery gamesmanship,” and lacking the information they need for a full-on questioning of the Oprah-discovered good doctor.
“By its own admission in a meet-and-confer between counsel on August 26, 2025, Peteski still has not produced all of Phillip C. McGraw’s emails and text messages (despite his deposition being scheduled to begin in less than 48 hours from the time of such conference), nor has it produced all of the documents concerning Envoy,” the Folley & Lardner represented TBN said in their 13-page filing last night. “Peteski’s same delay tactics persist. The pattern is so striking that it is more than mere déjà vu; it is a deliberate rerun, scripted by parties who have decided that the Court’s orders are optional guidance rather than binding directives.”
Or as PBR’s legal team of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff and Dallas-based Wick Phillips Gould & Martin put in their own filing of August 26 backing up TBN: “The documents produced to date demonstrate that this bankruptcy was conceived as a scheme to divert the Debtor’s employees and intellectual property to Envoy, a competing business Dr. Phil founded the day before this case was filed, and leave the Debtor’s business as a shell with nothing more than a repeated loop of re-runs.”
“It appears that Mr. McGraw is exerting his control over Peteski and strategically limiting his production in the hope that Trinity and PBR will cancel or postpone his deposition,” TSN added of the partnership they had such high flyin’ hopes for just a few and very expensive months ago.
“Mr. McGraw has delayed and restricted production of key documents directly relevant to his testimony, making it impossible to question him fully unless the deposition is moved,” TSN went on to say. They are seeking lawyers’ fees, a “brief adjournment” of the upcoming September 2 hearing and Dr, Phil’s the depo moved if need be, but only if absolutely neccesary and the full document handover does not occur ASAP. “This is not the first time Mr. McGraw has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid sitting for a deposition. Indeed, he caused the Debtor to file for bankruptcy immediately after the arbitrator in the PBR arbitration compelled his deposition.”
“Mr. McGraw does not want to sit for a deposition at all. But he should not be rewarded for his discovery tactics by a postponement or cancellation of his deposition.”
Reps for the UTA-signed Dr. Phil did not respond to Deadline’s request over the latest filings and today’s deadline (pun slightly intended). With just over 30 minutes until the requested hearing time in the Lone Star state, there is no indication of a hearing or much anything on the dockets for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Texas.
On Tuesday, TBN’s lawyers said “The time for patience has passed,” but right now it feels a lot like that fave expression of Dr. Phil’s of “that dog don’t hunt for me” is the proper phrase here.
The post Dr. Phil Could Be In The Sanctions Hot Seat Very Soon In Legal Battle With Christian TV Network Over Scuttled $500M Deal & Chapter 11 Moves appeared first on Deadline.
