Collateral damange from Kate Walsh's bitter divorce is escalating to the point where the head honcho of ABC is asking for protection - from a court of law!

The actress' estranged husband, Alex Young, has subpoenaed Stephen McPherson, President of Disney/ABC Television, for a deposition - to testify about Kate Walsh's finances. Young alleges Walsh is hiding financial information from him.

McPherson, who is effectively Walsh's boss, is having none of it. Disney's lawyers have filed legal papers asking for a court order blocking any such deposition.

Young believes Walsh is not coming clean with all the assets acquired during their 14-month marriage. His lawyer, Jeff Sturman, fired off the subpoena to McPherson, claiming he has "unique" knowledge about Walsh's financial situation.

Alex Young and Kate Walsh announced their split in December.

Kate Walsh starred on Grey's Anatomy for two seasons and then left to take the lead role in its moderately successful spinoff series, Private Practice.

Disney lawyers replied that Young is "harassing" McPherson, "because at the the time of Ms. Walsh acquiring the role on Private Practice, Mr. McPherson was not running ABC Studios." Disney is willing to send an underling to the depo.

Young, a 20th Century Fox movie exec, has also subpoenaed financial docs from Disney itself. Disney and Young will fight it out in court on July 8.