Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 11) — Viva Artists Agency, Inc. on Friday filed a lawsuit against singer-actress Nadine Lustre for allegedly violating her contract with them.
In a statement, the talent management group, which has been overseeing Lustre’s career since 2009, said the contract states that she should be working with Viva exclusively. However, Lustre supposedly has been “contracting independently with advertisers, promoters and third parties.”
“Despite her continued success as an exclusive artist of VAA for almost a decade, Nadine still chose to violate and disregard her contract with VAA,” said the agency, after filing the complaint before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
In January, Lustre’s legal counsel said they were ready for any court battle with Viva after the agency said it would take appropriate action against the actress for overstepping their agreement.
Viva’s statement at the time came in the wake of reports from Lustre’s camp that she will start self-managing her career, citing Article 1920 of the Civil Code on the right of the principal to revoke the agency under a contract. However, Viva previously argued that Lustre cannot just unilaterally withdraw from their deal.
Lorna Kapunan, Lustre’s lawyer, earlier slammed Viva and labeled it as a group that “has taken advantage of young artists in the industry.”
Lustre starred in a string of successful film and TV projects including “Diary ng Panget,” “Ulan,” “On The Wings of Love,” and “Never Not Love You” that gave her Best Actress trophies from Gawad Urian and FAMAS.
