Love Is Blind Contestant Renee Poche’S Arbitration Appeal In Lawsuit Against Show Denied By Judge

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Love Is Blind contestant Renee Poche’s attempt to appeal the decision of her lawsuit has been denied.

Poche, whose storyline was not shown on season 5 of the Netflix series, sued the streamer and its production company, Delirium TV, in January. In a complaint obtained by PEOPLE at the time, she claimed to be the subject of “unlawful employment practices,” “unfair competition” and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

In March, the judge handling the case, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bruce G. Iwasaki, denied Poche’s request to avoid arbitration in the lawsuit, which marked a major victory for Delirium TV.

On July 3, PEOPLE obtained a new filing that stated that Judge Iwasaki has now denied Poche’s petition to appeal the arbitration, yet another victory for the production company.

In the initial denial from March, Judge Iwasaki said that Poche and her lawyers had “absolutely no evidence” that participating in arbitration — which is required under her agreement with Delirium — would cause her harm, according to a press release.

Poche was also allegedly “asked to stop her unauthorized interviews and promptly mediate the dispute, and she was repeatedly warned, by production personnel as well as by Delirium’s lawyers, that her continued breaches of the participant agreement would result in Delirium filing arbitration,” per the release.

In a statement, attorneys for the production company said they were “very pleased” with the results of the hearing, which they said was as a result of Poche’s “violations of her confidentiality and publicity obligations.”

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“Arbitration is the procedure that is spelled out in the agreement Ms. Poche signed when she applied to participate in Love is Blind,” the statement said. “But, rather than defend against Delirium’s claims in arbitration, Ms. Poche and her lawyers chose to file a headline-grabbing Complaint in Court against Delirium and Netflix with a morass of arguments challenging the enforceability of the agreement she signed.”

In her initial filing, Poche claimed that Netflix and Delirium TV matched her with her ex-fiancé Carter Wall. And despite claiming that “all participants had been vetted and were ‘marriage material,'” she became “utterly terrified to be around him.”

The veterinarian from Austin, Texas further alleged that Wall was “emotionally abusive on and off camera, lied malignantly and heavily abused drugs and alcohol.” She claimed she was told she would “subject herself to legal action if she were to discontinue her participation in the [show] or otherwise refuse to move forward with the engagement.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, Poche called her experience on Love is Blind “traumatic.”

“I felt like a prisoner and had no support when I let Delirium know that I didn’t feel safe. I tried to deal with these emotions over time and eventually felt like I needed to share what had happened. I felt it was only right to let others know the truth of what all of the castmates had to endure.”

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