A judge has denied Kat Von D’s bid for about $13,500 in costs in her successful defense against a lawsuit brought by the ex-manager of her now-shuttered High Voltage Tattoo store in West Hollywood, who alleged she was wrongfully fired in 2020 for expressing concerns about her boss’ alleged disregard for coronavirus mandates.
The former manager, Stephanie Davidson, contended in her court papers that Von D would only be entitled to costs if she could show Davidson filed a frivolous lawsuit. On Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin C. Brazile struck Von D’s memorandum of costs.
“Permitting KVD to claim all joint litigation costs via a clerk’s memorandum while HVT remains an active defendant on non-frivolous … claims would create an improper end-run around” the Government Code, according to the judge.
Davidson sued Von D and High Voltage Tattoo in January 2022. A status hearing in the case is scheduled Sept. 9.
According to Davidson’s lawsuit, after the pandemic caused the shutdown of Von D’s shop, the plaintiff raised concerns about Von D’s alleged failure to follow required safety protocols. Even though Von D knew Davidson had type-1 diabetes, Von D continued to refuse to implement needed safety protocols, prompting the plaintiff to report the shop to state health officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom, Davidson’s attorneys further state in their court papers.
But rather than engage in the interactive process so Davidson could safely work, Von D “discriminated against Ms. Davidson based on her disability by terminating her in retaliation for her complaint,” according to Davidson’s legal team’s pleadings.
In August 2025, Brazile agreed with Von D’s lawyers that there were no triable issues in Davidson’s case against the tattoo artist and removed Von D as a defendant.
In his ruling, the judge found that Von D is not the “alter ego” of High Voltage Tattoo and therefore cannot be found liable for the one cause of action Davidson alleged against Von D for retaliation.
Davidson had worked as Von D’s personal assistant when she was employed by Wonderland Inc., then she left for other jobs before being rehired by the tattoo artist as HVT’s general manager, according to the plaintiff’s court papers.
Davidson’s primary duties in her new job consisted of general shop maintenance, answering phone calls and inquiries, booking and coordinating walk-in appointments, setting up tattoo stations, ordering and organizing inventory, handling client payments and pay-outs at the end of the day, and running the shop’s social media account, according to her court papers.
Von D’s real name is Katherine Von Drachenberg and she is the former longtime girlfriend of Long Beach-born 57-year-old reality television personality Jesse James, the founder of West Coast Choppers.
In October 2021, Von D, now 44, announced she was closing High Voltage Tattoo, which was featured on the TLC reality show “LA Ink,” and moving with her family to Indiana.