Sonja Flemming/CBSCBS is throwing more stones at The Glass House.
Having already filed a federal lawsuit to prevent ABC from going forward with the reality show, which CBS claims is a Big Brother rip-off, the suing network has filed an emergency request—complete with new allegations of funny business—to prevent the ABC series from airing.
What is ABC accused of doing now?
In its application—filed yesterday in U.S. District Court and obtained by E! News—for a temorary restraining order pursuant to a permanent injunction, CBS states that Glass House executive producer Kenny Rosen acknowledged in a sworn deposition that he destroyed pertinent emails after hearing that CBS was taking legal action against the show.
Rosen, who previously served as a story editor and producer on Big Brother, is one of 19 former Big Brother staffers now employed by ABC and/or Glass House, according to CBS' initial complaint.
Along with ABC, parent company Walt Disney and Disney/ABC Television Group, Rosen is named as an individual defendant, as are Corie Henson, VP of alternative programming for ABC (and former supervising producer on Big Brother) and Michael O'Sullivan, a Glass House producer (and former Big Brother producer).
In its latest bid to shutter Glass House, CBS also reiterates its main claim, which is that the show intentionally borrowed heavily from Big Brother in concept and production.
ABC has said in reply that CBS' lawsuit is a bogus attempt to stifle competition and creativity and unfairly claim ownership of a tried and true reality-TV format. Rosen also has said that CBS tried to pressure him into not going to work for the rival network.
"The public announcements from ABC and their producers' own testimony about Glass House clearly point to a program that will replicate virtually every element of Big Brother," CBS said in a statement to E! News. "And, the deposition testimony included in our court filing [Thursday] further demonstrates the brazen lengths that former Big Brother producers have gone to use confidential material, obtained while under our employment, to develop this new show."
An attorney for ABC has not yet returned a request for comment. Meanwhile, The Glass House, in which 14 roommates vie for $250,000, is scheduled to premiere June 18.
—Reporting by Baker Machado and Claudia Rosenbaum