Paramount Pictures and a former studio executive have been sued by two women who are former employees. One of the plaintiffs alleges the exec sexually assaulted her, and both ex-Paramount Pictures staffers allege he subjected them to sexual harassment and emotional abuse.
The two women suing the studio and parent Paramount Global are identified as “Jane Doe” in the complaints, which were both filed this month in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles. The complaints are available at this link and this link. Both lawsuits are seeking unspecified compensatory damages. Law firm Ivie McNeill Wyatt Purcell & Diggs is listed as representing both plaintiffs, and Eugene “Chip” Matthews is also repping the Jane Doe who alleges she was sexually assaulted.
The Paramount Pictures executive named in the lawsuits is Patrick Smith, formerly senior VP of print production in the studio’s marketing department. According to the lawsuits, each of the women at one point worked at Paramount Pictures as well as XYi Design, a vendor used by the studio, and were under the direct supervision of Smith. Smith resigned from Paramount Pictures earlier this year following an investigation into allegations of misconduct, according to Matthews, the attorney representing one of the plaintiffs.
“It is our understanding that Paramount allowed Patrick Smith to resign, rather than firing him, after he was asked not to work in the office during the investigation,” Matthews told Variety in an email. “We believe that allowing him to resign left his employment record ‘unblemished’ and allowed him to seek any retirement or benefits he may have coming to him.”
Reps for Paramount Pictures and Paramount Global did not respond to requests for comment. Patrick Smith could not be reached for comment. London-based XYi Design did not respond to a request for comment.
Both lawsuits allege that Paramount Global and Paramount Pictures “retained Defendant Smith as a Vice President of Paramount, despite receiving numerous complaints about Defendant Smith’s egregious behavior and sexual misconduct.”
The first Jane Doe, in a complaint filed July 14, began work at XYi in August 2016 at the age of 24 and “fresh out of college.” In the role, she worked at Paramount’s offices “under Defendant Smith’s direct management and supervision,” according to her lawsuit.
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Shortly after she arrived at Paramount, Smith “began sending overtly flirtatious texts, laden with sexual innuendos and inappropriate emojis, including kissy faces and eggplants. He inquired about her bra size, using emojis suggestive of large breasts.” In September or October 2016, Smith entered her office, closed the door behind him, and “without her consent, he then reached down the front of her dress and touched her breast beneath her bra.” On another occasion, Smith “greeted her” in his office “with an unsolicited kiss and proceeded to grope her body inappropriately.”
In November 2016, the woman attended a late-evening business meeting with a vendor, accompanied by Smith. “After the meeting ended, Defendant Smith offered to drive Plaintiff back to her vehicle, which was parked near the Paramount office. But instead of simply dropping her off, Defendant Smith locked the doors, grabbed her without warning, and aggressively forced his mouth on hers,” the first Jane Doe’s lawsuit says. “Before Plaintiff could react, Defendant Smith shoved his hand between her legs and digitally penetrated her vagina, without consent and without regard for her fear, dignity, or safety. Trapped in his car late at night, isolated and terrified, Plaintiff froze. She didn’t believe she could escape safely, and she feared that resisting would only make things worse.”
In December 2016, Smith hired the woman as a manager at Paramount. A few weeks later, Smith was hiring an assistant and during that interview process, “he began making inappropriate remarks about a female interviewee’s physical appearance, drawing unsettling comparisons between the candidate and Plaintiff. He taunted Plaintiff with these comments, intentionally provoking jealousy by referring to the interviewee as his new ‘right hand,’ thereby sowing doubt and insecurity in Plaintiff’s mind. Plaintiff began to question her own performance and whether she had somehow fallen short in her new role, enough to justify Defendant Smith seeking additional support,” according to the lawsuit. Smith “professed his love for Plaintiff, but did so in a manner that was both threatening and possessive, declaring, ‘No one will ever love you like I do,’” according to the first Jane Doe’s lawsuit.
In January 2017, at the Paramount office, Smith “forcibly pushed Plaintiff into a storage room, then shut and locked the door behind him, rendering himself and the key the sole means of Plaintiff’s escape. There, he aggressively kissed her and shockingly proceeded to digitally penetrate her without her consent. Moments after returning to his office, while Plaintiff attempted to regain composure at her desk, Defendant Smith sent her a chilling message: ‘That was fun,’” per the lawsuit.
Throughout 2017, according to the lawsuit, Smith “repeatedly engaged in inappropriate and coercive conduct toward Plaintiff, often during work hours and in locations associated with the Paramount Studio Lot and offices. Under the guise of lunch breaks, Defendant Smith would take Plaintiff to his car or secluded areas of the studio grounds, where he would forcibly kiss her and, in numerous instances, digitally penetrate her without her consent. He would also pressure Plaintiff into performing oral sex, exploiting the imbalance of power between them and her vulnerable position as his subordinate.”
“Throughout the period of harassment, Defendant Smith routinely engaged in drug use with Plaintiff and subjected her to unsolicited sexual contact, including digitally penetrating her in his vehicle,” the lawsuit claims. In addition, “As part of a sustained pattern of psychological torment, Defendant Smith subjected
Plaintiff to repeated verbal abuse throughout the workday. Multiple times a day, he would summon her into his office, only to berate and humiliate her over trivial mistakes or arbitrary preferences that Plaintiff could not have reasonably anticipated.”
In 2018, “the pattern of sexual assault by Defendant Smith escalated, with him coercing Plaintiff into visiting her apartment in West Hollywood during lunch breaks to engage in sexual acts,” per the lawsuit. “As the sexual assaults continued, on several occasions, he would forcibly ejaculate inside Plaintiff and then callously ask, ‘If you get pregnant, you’ll take care of it, right?’ an insinuation about abortion that further highlighted his disregard for her autonomy and well-being.” Also in 2018, Smith sent this woman an unsolicited text message asking, “Have you ever tried anal?”, according to her lawsuit. “Ultimately, Defendant Smith proceeded to forcefully anally penetrate Plaintiff against her will, and continued against her will, despite her clear distress,” the lawsuit states.
In January 2020, the first Jane Doe “entered into a committed romantic relationship with her now-husband. Upon learning of this development, Defendant Smith responded with visible jealousy and emotional volatility,” the lawsuit says. During one morning phone call, Smith “made a deeply disturbing and demeaning remark, stating: ‘Someday, when you get married, I’ll be happy for you, because I’ve already had you hundreds of times.’”
Eventually, the woman decided to seek employment elsewhere and started a new job at the end of August 2022. Before she left the company Smith, “in a desperate bid to maintain control,” promised “increased compensation and continued rapid career advancement, offers that rang hollow in light of the sustained harassment and manipulation Plaintiff had endured,” according to the lawsuit.
The second Jane Doe plaintiff began her employment with Paramount in 2017 and reported directly to Smith. Two years later, in 2019, “at the directive” of Smith, she began working for XYi Design, “a prominent vendor for Paramount, sourced to provide various marketing and design services,” according to the suit, filed July 9. While employed by XYi, she still worked in the office at Paramount and Smith continued as her direct supervisor.
According to the second Jane Doe’s lawsuit, “Smith was verbally caustic, emotionally abusive, sexually predatory, aggressive, and highly vindictive, and did so all under the guise and promise of promotions and prospective business opportunities.”
“Defendant Smith would send Plaintiff numerous abhorring text messages, suggesting sexual acts and riddled with sexual innuendos,” the lawsuit says. In 2017, Smith “demanded Plaintiff join him in Las Vegas, Nevada, for an alleged work-related conference and suggested that he and Plaintiff would engage in sexual acts while there.” In addition, upon the second Jane Doe’s return to Paramount following her maternity leave, Smith “outrageously overstepped professional boundaries by making numerous inappropriate remarks regarding her body and figure, both positively and negatively. This conduct culminated in a severe and unjust limitation of Plaintiff’s work responsibilities, predicated on Defendant Smith’s discriminatory belief that her status as a mother rendered her incapable of fulfilling certain job functions.”
“Plaintiff was continuously made to feel self-conscious, embarrassed, intimidated, dehumanized, ridiculed, insulted, and extremely uncomfortable at work each day at work, as a result of Defendant Smith’s conduct and behavior, and Defendant Paramount Global’s and Defendant Paramount Pictures’ failure to prevent such conduct,” the second Jane Doe’s lawsuit says.
From Variety US