The mother of Rob Kardashian’s toddler-aged daughter can take her claims against several members of his family, including defamation and interference with prospective economic advantage, to trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Attorney Lynne Brennan, on behalf of Blac Chyna, lauded Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Randolph Hammock’s decision.
“The bottom line is that this is a victory for Blac Chyna,” Brennan said outside the courtroom.
But lawyer Patricia Millett, on behalf of Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kris and Kylie Jenner, said the judge dismissed substantive portions of Chyna’s complaint and that she will bring a motion to dismiss the remainder of the case against them.
“We believe the case has been gutted,” Millett said.
Chyna alleges the four women falsely claimed she physically abused former boyfriend Rob Kardashian.
Hammock’s ruling dealt with a motion by the Kardahian and Jenner women. The anti-SLAPP motion — a strategic lawsuit against public participation — alleged Chyna’s complaint was intended to censor, intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.
Chyna, 30, and Rob Kardashian, 31, began dating in January 2016 and had a daughter, Dream, that November. They split a month later and she sued Kardashian, his mother and three of his sisters in October 2017.
In July 2017, he used social media to post pictures of Chyna’s naked breasts, backside and genitals. He also accused her of sleeping with another man in “the same bed Chyna and I made our baby in.” He later took down some of the photos.
In her lawsuit, Chyna, whose real name is Angela White, alleged she suffered significant damages and that the scandal caused her reality show with her ex-boyfriend, “Rob & Chyna,” to be canceled by E! She alleges that E! would have granted her a second season of the show but for false statements against her, including alleged comments by the four female defendants to E! Network representatives in late 2016 and early 2017 that Chyna physically abused Rob Kardashian.
According to the dismissal motion — which focused on the four women, but not Rob Kardashian — Chyna’s lawsuit “fails to identify any specific statements allegedly made by defendants about plaintiff physically abusing Rob Kardashian except for a single statement allegedly made by Kylie Jenner to an E! executive.”
However, the evidence “unequivocally establishes” that the remark was “not understood in a defamatory manner,” according to the Kardashian-Jenner court papers. “And in any event, statements about plaintiff physically abusing Rob Kardashian are not false because … plaintiff in fact physically attacked Mr. Kardashian.”