X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Ashton Kutcher's Production Company Suing California Department of Motor Vehicles

Ashton Kutcher's production company Katalyst Media is suing the California Department of Motor Vehicles for backing out of a reality TV project "abruptly and without justifiable excuse," according to The Hollywood Reporter. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Katalyst, along with production company Soda and Pop, Inc., claims that in 2010, Katalyst and the DMV negotiated to develop a half-hour series about the employees and customers of the DMV. TruTV had signed on to air the show before the DMV pulled out.

robyn-ross.jpg
Robyn Ross

Ashton Kutcher's production company Katalyst Media is suing the California Department of Motor Vehicles for backing out of a reality TV project "abruptly and without justifiable excuse," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Katalyst, along with production company Soda and Pop, Inc., claims that in 2010, Katalyst and the DMV negotiated to develop a half-hour series about the employees and customers of the DMV. TruTV had signed on to air the show before the DMV pulled out.

Check out more of today's news

"The series was conceived and designed to capture the variously humorous, emotional, dramatic, moving, humanizing and entertaining situations that arise on a daily basis at DMV's more than 170 offices across the state of California," the suit states. "In a five sentence letter to Katalyst producer Jason Goldberg, [DMV deputy director Mike] Marando simply declared that DMV no longer considered the series to be in its 'best interests' and would therefore 'not be moving forward on such a project.'"

Katalyst, which produced Punk'd, True Beauty and Beauty and the Geek, is seeking more than $1.44 million in damages.