Wendy Burch, a morning news anchor at KTLA, has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing a woman tied to her ex-partner’s business dealings of waging an eight-year campaign to extort her and wreck her reputation. The suit, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, names Christine Weber, Howard Fisher, and the firm Fisher and Fisher as defendants and comes after Weber spent years pursuing a separate fraud case against Burch that was ultimately thrown out.
According to the New York Post, which first reported the filing, Burch’s lawsuit alleges causes of action including malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and emotional distress. The dispute traces back to Weber’s 2018 lawsuit against James Bruce Taylor, Burch’s ex and the father of her son, in which Weber claimed Taylor and Burch defrauded her out of $150,000 she says she intended to use to launch a cannabis delivery service. Court records reviewed by unicourt.com confirm Weber filed that Breach of Contract - Commercial case against Taylor on March 23, 2018, in the Santa Monica Courthouse of Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Per Weber’s version of events, detailed in her original lawsuit, she withdrew $150,000 in cash for the deal because of IRS problems, and she and Taylor had met at a Santa Monica bar back in 2015. Weber’s suit also alleged that she and Taylor arranged a drug transaction at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas and planned to transport marijuana across state lines, according to the New York Post.
Burch Says She Was Never Part of the Deal
Burch has said her relationship with Taylor was limited to co-parenting their son, and that she knew nothing about the Las Vegas trip at the center of Weber’s claims, the Post reports. Burch has characterized the money at issue as tied to an illegal marijuana deal between Weber and Taylor rather than any arrangement involving her.
A court dismissed Weber’s case against Burch in December 2025. A related filing on trellis.law shows Weber pursued an appeal, with Burch filing a response to the proposed settled statement.
Weber went on to file five appeals in the case, per the Post’s reporting. The outlet also reports that a court ruled in favor of Taylor in 2025, finding Weber had knowingly entered an illegal drug deal with him.
Alleged Campaign of Harassment
In her new lawsuit, Burch accuses Weber of launching a social-media smear campaign against her after the money disappeared, contacting Burch’s bosses at KTLA in an effort to get her fired, and emailing the station’s story-tip account to accuse Burch and Taylor of crimes. Burch also alleges Weber sent her threatening messages through Facebook Messenger, according to the Post’s report.
Burch says the years of litigation and alleged harassment have taken a toll on her, describing anxiety, depression, mental anguish, sleeplessness, anger, stress, and hopelessness tied to the ordeal, according to her lawsuit. The Post reports that Weber, Fisher, and the firm Fisher and Fisher were all contacted for comment on the new filing.
What California Law Says About Extortion Threats
Though the lawsuit does not appear to include formal extortion charges, Burch’s description of a years-long pressure campaign touches on conduct California law addresses separately. Under California Penal Code §519, fear constituting extortion can be induced by a threat to cause unlawful injury to the person or property of the person threatened or of a third party. It remains unclear whether the conduct alleged in Burch’s suit would meet that statute’s specific legal threshold, and the case is now in the hands of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
