Hallmark Media executive vice president of programming Lisa Hamilton Daly instructed a former employee not to cast "old people" for Hallmark roles, saying that "our leading ladies are aging out," according to a lawsuit filed against the network this month and obtained by The Associated Press.

Penny Perry, a 79-year old casting director who filed the lawsuit Oct. 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that she was wrongfully fired from the network known its feel-good movies because of her age, and despite stellar performance reviews.

The complaint was filed by attorneys Joshua Schein of Schein Law Group and Lisa G. Sherman of Sherman Law Corporation in Los Angeles.