Paula Abdul sued by production company

By Stone Martindale Feb 6, 2007, 23:46 GMT

TMZ reports that a lawsuit was filed against Paula Abdul by a production company claiming the "Idol" judge tried to edge them out of a show they allegedly pitched to Abdul based on Paula's life.

According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Pilgrim Films and Television (PFTV) met with Abdul and David Russo - her producing partner back in 2004 to pitch a show featuring Abdul.

TMZ reports that according to the suit, after some false starts, the concept evolved into a reality show titled "Hey Paula," based on Abdul's life.

Allegedly the project "fell apart" after Abdul demanded final editorial control over the final product.

The suit papers claim PFTV was "trying to get the show back on track" by selling it to Oxygen.

PFTV claims Abdul allegedly came clean and told PFTV that "she had secretly taken PFTV's 'Hey Paula' project to Bravo." The suit claims she never mentioned that Russo was allegedly in on it.

On January 12, Bravo announced "Hey Paula" will debut sometime this year on the network.

TMZ reports the suit asks for compensatory and punitive damages, in addition to an injunction prohibiting anyone from airing "Hey Paula."

David Russo's lawyer, Bill Abrams, told TMZ, "The allegations are baseless."

Paula told TMZ directly, "While I'm not going to respond to this baseless lawsuit, I will say that "Hey Paula" is based upon my life and my ideas. Last I heard, I still own my own life."