Oscar-winning producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori may have gotten a legal reprieve Tuesday when a judge canceled a contempt hearing aimed at deciding whether Cecchi Gori ignored court orders as part of a lawsuit brought by an ex-employee, also an Oscar winner.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Amy D. Hogue took the action after Charles J. Harder, an attorney for the Italian filmmaker, said he believed the issues that prompted lawyers for Gianni Nunnari to seek the contempt hearing may had been resolved.

Nunnari is the former president and chief operating officer of Cecchi Gori Pictures and Cecchi Gori USA. Like Cecchi Gori, he recently replaced his previous lawyers. The suit, filed in May 2008, alleges fraud, breach of contract, libel and invasion of privacy. Nunnari maintains he was unexpectedly fired in April and is owed $3 million in severance pay and pension benefits.

Cecchi Gori maintains in a countersuit filed against Nunnari in June 2008 that his former employee breached a contract and his fiduciary duty to his boss by working for a competing company as a movie producer.

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