Kim Kardashian is not liable against Blac Chyna’s defamation claim

Blac Chyna sued the Kardashians several years ago, and the trial has been happening for a few weeks. Which is surprising in and of itself, because you would think that the Kardashians would simply find some way to get Chyna to back off and go away. Maybe she wanted her day in court, or maybe the Kardashians just didn’t want to throw some go-away money at Chyna. Chyna’s lawsuit stems from her breakup with Rob Kardashian, the cancelation of their reality show (Rob & Chyna) and Rob posting revenge p-rn of Chyna following their breakup. I would say that Chyna has a good case against Rob specifically, but she sued Kim Kardashian for defamation, and she sued the family over the loss of her reality show.

So, the Kardashian-Jenners have all testified in court and I’ve read some of the coverage of their testimony. I thought Kylie was pretty effective, especially because she had been on-and-off with Tyga for a while at the time and Chyna had threatened her directly. Kris, Kim and Rob also testified, and they’ve all detailed the ways in which Chyna harassed them, threatened them, or they were witness to her aggressive behavior. All in all, I wonder why anyone thought that Chyna’s case was going to be a slam dunk, or that she was going to do any kind of reputational damage to the Kardashian-Jenners. On Friday, the judge threw out the defamation part of the case.

A Los Angeles judge ruled Kim Kardashian should not be held liable against Blac Chyna’s defamation claim. Documents obtained by Page Six show the court ruled that “no statement” made by the Skims founder, 41, was “alleged to be defamatory” against the “Rob & Chyna” alum, 33. Chyna’s team previously argued they only needed to prove that each defendant in the case — including Kim, Khloé Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Kris Jenner — took a “responsible part” in defaming Chyna, whose real name is Angela White.

Jurors were told to consider evidence, including emails and messages made by Khloé, Kylie and Kris to network executives. The court agreed on Friday that there is “no evidence” to support that Kim had a “responsible part” in defaming Chyna, per the documents, so the Skims founder was dropped from the defamation claim. The ruling was based on the lawyers’ arguments, the court record and papers from the counsel.

Although Kim was absolved of the defamation charge, she is potentially still on the hook for alleged intentional interference with a contract. Chyna has accused the Kardashian-Jenner family of using their influence to cancel a potential second season of her and ex-fiancé Rob Kardashian’s E! reality show. However, Jeff Jenkins, former co-president of Bunim-Murray and executive producer of the series, testified last week that networks including BET, VH1, Lifetime and MTV were also uninterested in picking up “Rob & Chyna.”

Chyna is seeking more than $100 million for economic damages, including loss of earnings from social media posts, club and TV appearances and general damages for emotional distress. The Kardashian-Jenner family’s attorney, Michael Rhodes, tried to get the case dismissed altogether last Friday, arguing that Chyna’s claims were “absurd.” He also said the total damages amount is based on “unsupported and wildly speculative claims” since she has not provided the appropriate accounting records.

[From Page Six]

Yeah, the defamation part of the case deserved to be thrown out, I’m sorry. I know people hate Kim, but she didn’t defame Chyna (there’s actually footage of her defending Chyna to her family). As for the “intentional interference with a contract” part of the case… the crux of Chyna’s legal argument is that Kris and other family members all “colluded” to deny Rob & Chyna a second season, that the Kardashians effectively went into a room together and decided to torpedo her show (which they produced). I just… don’t see any there there, I guess? The judge clearly believed that there were questions which needed answering and that the issue should go to trial, but the trial has been a sh-tshow for Chyna, especially when Rob talked about how she strangled him, put a gun to his head (twice) and got violent when she was on cocaine. Anyway…

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.