LOS ANGELES — A jury on Monday gave a sweeping win to the Kardashian family in former reality TV star Blac Chyna’s lawsuit against them.
The Los Angeles jury found that none of the members of the famous family defamed Chyna, nor did any interfere with her contract by convincing the E! network to cancel her reality show “Rob & Chyna.”
The four Kardashian defendants attended nearly the entire trial, but when the verdict was read all were in New York at the Met Gala, where this year’s theme was “Gilded Glamour.”
Chyna was in court for the verdict. She had no visible reaction.
After about 10 hours of deliberations, the jurors found on the long jury form that the Kardashians often acted in bad faith on the issues brought up in the case, but that it had no substantial effect on Chyna’s contract or the fate of the show, and she was awarded no damages.
Executives from the E! network, which aired the show, testified that “Rob & Chyna” ended because the relationship ended, not because of the defendants’ actions.
Jurors were considering the defamation case against Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, after a judge threw out the part of the lawsuit against Kim Kardashian in the middle of deliberations.
All four of the women testified during the nine-day trial.
The trial focused largely on allegations that Chyna violently attacked her then-fiancé and reality TV co-star Rob Kardashian on a night and morning in December 2016. He testified that she twice held a gun to his head, wrapped a phone-charging cord around his neck and beat him with a metal rod. She testified that she had put the cord around his neck and held the gun playfully as the two celebrated the renewal of their reality show, and when the celebration turned into a dispute, she was never violent against him.
But the legal questions the jury considered were all about the aftermath of that fight. Jurors had to decide whether each of the defendants knowingly lied about the abuse when they talked about it with the producers and executives overseeing “Rob & Chyna,” or spread word about it with reckless disregard for the truth. And they had to decide for each defendant whether those communications were an illegal interference with Chyna’s contract to appear on the show.
Jurors were free to make it a split decision – finding against some of the Kardashians but not others.
They gave the family a clean sweep instead, and gave Chyna nothing.
The 5-year-old lawsuit overcame many obstacles – including motions to dismiss and settlement talks between the two sides – and was a longshot to even get to trial.
But the final obstacle, convincing a jury, proved too much to overcome.
