A former ABC News field producer has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court naming CBS News correspondent Matt Gutman as a defendant. The legal action alleges that Gutman engaged in inappropriate and sexualized behavior while the two worked together at ABC News.
The complaint details two specific incidents. In the first, it alleges Gutman reduced a female colleague to a numerical score based on her appearance while the news team waited in a public queue. In the second, the suit claims Gutman made a sexualized insinuation about Said during a work trip because she declined to relocate their team. These allegations are part of a broader complaint against ABC News and The Walt Disney Co.
Beyond the claims against Gutman, Samira Said alleges that ABC News and its parent company retaliated against her following her coverage of the Uvalde school shooting in May 2022. Said states that she experienced significant trauma while covering the event and requested medical accommodations upon returning to work. The suit asserts that the Los Angeles bureau chief denied these requests and required her to return to her full duties without restrictions.
Said further claims that the network eventually moved her to weekend desk shifts before terminating her employment in March 2025. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, along with attorney fees and a jury trial. As of this report, representatives for Disney and CBS have not provided a formal response to the filing. The case is currently pending in court and the allegations remain unproven.