Paulina Rubio Sues Telemundo For Not Wanting To Pay And Replacing Her From ‘La Voz Kids’

More legal drama for Paulina Rubio. The Mexican superstar is suing Telemundo alleging they reneged on a $1.325 million deal for her to repeat her run as a coach in the famous “The Voice” spinoff, “La Voz Kids.” The suit was filed on Monday, Jan. 13, in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to the lawsuit, Telemundo, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, cited scheduling conflicts with Paulina’s commitment to “X-Factor.” According to Rubio, network executives finalized the terms of her participation via email between her lawyer, Joe Carlone and the vice president of legal affairs at Telemundo, Tanya Perara. The suit also claims the contract was confirmed verbally as well.

However, Telemundo claims that they insisted on a written confirmation verifying that Paulina would be available and that her work on “The X-Factor” wouldn’t conflict with “La Voz Kids” schedule. She was set to appear on “X-Factor” in May and June, while “La Voz Kids” was shooting earlier this year. "Rather than do so in good faith," the lawsuit says, according to an exclusive by The Hollywood Reporter, "Telemundo made only a perfunctory effort to clear a full three and a half week period in May and June and did not respond to Fremantle’s request in response to same that Telemundo identify the specific dates that Telemundo wanted to clear.”

“Defendants’ concern about clearing dates was, at best, a pretext. Defendants did not act reasonably or in good faith to obtain the written confirmation that they purportedly required." Jose Sariego, Telemundo’s senior vp, told Carlone on Dec. 23, 2013, that the network had decided to “terminate negotiations,” denying there was any binding agreement. That same day they made the announcement that Natalia Jiménez would be joining the show.

Rubio is demanding at least $1 million for breach of contract, and an additional $100,000 over an alleged deal to use clips of her first season in television advertisements. "Telemundo apparently changed its mind after making a deal when presented with the opportunity to hire a far less expensive talent to replace Paulina," the lawsuit cites, and Howard King, Paulina’s litigation attorney, told The Hollywood Reporter, "Telemundo is going to pay for their questionable business ethics and cavalier attitude toward the talent that contributes so greatly to their commercial success."