LOS ANGELES (AP) – A court on Monday gave the Kardashian family a sweeping victory in the lawsuit filed by former reality star Blac Chyna against them.
The Los Angeles jury found that none of the members discredited Chyna, nor did they intervene in her contract by convincing E! network to cancel “Rob & Chyna” reality show.
The four Kardashian defendants – Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner – attended almost the entire trial, but when the verdict was read they were all in New York at the Met Gala, where this year’s theme was “Gilded Glamor”. .
Chyna was in court for the verdict. He had no visible reaction.
After about 10 hours of deliberations, the jury decided on the jury’s lengthy form that the Kardashians often acted in bad faith, finding that there was no justification for telling Rob & Chyna executives and producers that Chyna had abused her son and brother. Rob. Kardashian. They found, however, that she had no substantial influence on Chyna’s contract or the fate of the show and was not compensated.
Executives from E! The network, which broadcast the show, testified that “Rob & Chyna” ended because the relationship ended, not because of the actions of the accused.
Kardashian lawyer Michael G. Rhodes said the family was “exuberant” when he called them on the news.
“They are very happy,” Rhodes said. “I hope they enjoy their gala in New York.”
Chyna’s lawyer, Lynne Ciani, said that based on the reading of the verdict, “the court found that Chyna had not physically abused Rob Kardashian” and “the court found that all four defendants had deliberately interfered with her contract with E! Network.”
“We will appeal the remaining questions,” he added.
The jury was twice sent back to discuss further when it was found that on some questions in the case against Kylie Jenner the vote was 8-4 when at least 9-3 was required in the political case, but they quickly returned with 9-3 votes and the result remained unchanged.
The jury was hearing the defamation case against Kris Jenner, Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, after a judge rejected the part of the lawsuit against Kim Kardashian in the middle of a consultation.
All four women testified during the nine-day trial.
The trial focused heavily on allegations that Chyna violently attacked her then-fiancé and reality show co-star Rob Kardashian one night and one morning in December 2016. He testified that he twice held a gun to his head, wrapped a charging cord around a telephone. hit him in the neck with a metal bar. He testified that he had put the string around his neck and was holding the gun playfully as the two of them celebrated the renewal of their reality show and when the party turned into a dispute, she was never violent against him.
But the legal questions examined by the jury concerned all the consequences of this struggle. The jurors had to decide whether each of the defendants knowingly lied about the abuse when he talked about it with the producers and supervisors of “Rob & Chyna” or whether they spread it with reckless contempt for the truth. And they had to decide for each defendant if these communications constituted illegal interference with Chyna’s contract to appear on the show.
In her last speech, Ciani argued that it was absurd for the four women to believe that her client violently attacked her ex-fiancé, Rob Kardashian.
“There was no mark on him,” Ciani told the jury. “There was no call to the police, no trip to the hospital, not even a bandage.”
Rhodes argued at the close that the women had every reason to believe the accounts of the attack by Rob Kardashian and Chris Jenner’s longtime friend Corey Gamble, who got to the point and broke up the controversy.
“Do you remember what Rob looked like at the booth?” “His pain was real,” Rhodes said. “This is a real family. Yes, they are famous, but they are real people. He was very, very hurt here. “
During the trial, it appeared that Gamble would be the key witness in the defense. But television executives and producers whose testimony was often technical and completely without drama would prove more important in the jury’s findings, which made the stories of women’s abuse largely irrelevant.
Jurors were free to make a divisive decision – a finding against some of the Kardashians but not others.
They gave the family a clean scan, and gave nothing to Chyna.
He had demanded up to $ 108 million in the lawsuit. A punitive phase of compensation that would have been triggered by a plaintiff victory would not be happening now.
The five-year lawsuit overcame many obstacles – including rejection proposals and settlement talks between the two sides – and was a great opportunity to even get to trial.
But the last hurdle, which convinced a jury, proved too much to overcome.
However, the case is not over for Chyna. Separate charges in the lawsuit against Rob Kardashian, with him as the only defendant, were separated in a separate trial that will probably begin in about a week.
