Rosette Pambakian Looks to Avoid Arbitration for Assault Case
Former Tinder executive Rosette Pambakian has this week sought to have her sexual harassment case against ex-CEO Greg Blatt settled in court rather than arbitration.
She claims Blatt touched her inappropriately during a company party in 2016.
Kimberly Evans, representing the plaintiff, made the case to Judge Michael Fitzgerald that sexual harassment was not covered by the arbitration clause in Pambakian’s Match Group contract, and should be considered in open court instead. The decision is ongoing.
The clause has hobbled many of the marketer’s litigation efforts over the past two years. She was first forced to withdraw from the Tinder founders’ lawsuit, led by Sean Rad, after it emerged during related legal proceedings.
That case alleges that early Tinder employees were paid too little for their involvement in getting the dating app off the ground.
Pambakian then tried to bring her personal harassment case against Blatt through separate channels, but the clause again made action difficult.
In recent weeks, Blatt has accused Pambakian of defamation of character. He is now seeking $50 million in a counter lawsuit, which claims the pair engaged in consensual “snuggling and nuzzling”.
His camp says Rad and Pambakian: “have attempted to weaponize an important social movement [the #metoo movement], undermining the plight of true victims of sexual abuse by making false accusations in cynical pursuit of a $2 billion windfall.”
Pambakian and co. have filed a motion to dismiss, and Rad’s lawyer Orin Snyder has said: “This [defamation] lawsuit is intended to muzzle Rosette and Sean from telling the truth about how [IAC chairman] Barry Diller and Greg Blatt stole from their employees and covered up sexual assault allegations.”
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