Viacom is joining the battle against Netflix’s hiring practices, filing a suit that accuses the streaming service of poaching a TV production executive.
Netflix announced last week that it had hired Momita SenGupta as vice president of physical production for its original series. SenGupta had worked for 10 years at Viacom, most recently overseeing physical production at Comedy Central, Spike, MTV, and VH1.
In the suit filed on Oct. 5 in L.A. Superior Court, Viacom alleges that Netflix induced SenGupta to breach her contract, which was not set to expire until April 21, 2020.
“Netflix has signaled that it has no intention of complying with the law, and that its illegal attempts to induce Viacom employees to break their contracts without consequence will not be limited to SenGupta,” Viacom attorney Anthony J. Oncidi alleged. “Netflix’s tortious interference with an enforceable term employment agreement is neither trailblazing nor innovative — rather, it’s just another example of Netflix’s utter contempt for the law of the State of California.”
