Warner Bros. Discovery sued Amazon this week, alleging interference with contractual relationships, breach of contract and unfair competition.
As Deadline reports, the lawsuit alleges that Amazon is “rushing to push out a large number of contract workers for piracy,” including Pia Barlow, an HBO Max marketing executive who recently joined Amazon MGM Studios. Warner Bros. (whose pending acquisition of Paramount has been stalled for at least several months) said Barlow’s employment contract “is not scheduled to expire until October 31, 2027.”
“In blatant disregard for California law, Amazon acted in bad faith by inducing Plaintiffs’ employees under fixed-term employment contracts to violate those contracts, backed by ready assurances that Amazon would defend and indemnify them if they were held liable for their blatantly unlawful conduct,” Warner Bros. said.
The company also accused Amazon of trying to “unlawfully induce other WBD employees to violate their employment contracts, which were not scheduled to expire until December 2027.” But the executive in question (supposed to be HBO programming executive Francesca Orsi) ended up staying with Warner Bros.
Deadline noted that the lawsuit is likely to reopen the debate over whether fixed-term employment contracts are actually enforceable under California law.
Amazon MGM Studios declined to comment.
