Blac Chyna lost a round in court Tuesday when a judge denied a motion by her attorney to dismiss the remaining claims in a lawsuit filed by a former friend who alleges the model released the plaintiff’s private contact information to the public.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Draper said he will leave it up to a jury to decide whether the 33-year-old Chyna, whose real name is Angela White, is liable for public disclosure of private facts and intentional infliction of emotional distress against Pilot Jones.
“Chyna is a celebrity persona with many social media followers,” Draper wrote. “Hence, publicizing another person’s private contact information with directions to contact that person is substantially likely to cause distress to that other person under the circumstances. Also, the complaint alleges that plaintiff suffered such severe emotional distress following violent threats to his life, which ultimately led to (an unsuccessful) attempt to commit suicide.”
Chyna’s lawyer, Lynne Ciani, argued in her court papers that her client never disparaged Jones and that her Instagram posts never encouraged people to contact the plaintiff.
Jones’ suit maintains Chyna and her then-fiance, Rob Kardashian, intentionally caused him emotional distress under the false belief that he had released to the celebrity media in October 2016 a photo of Chyna and the plaintiff kissing when they were in a “friendly/close relationship.”
Tuesday’s motion did not pertain to the part of the case against Kardashian.
The complaint further alleges that one such photo was given to an online entertainment publication and that after subsequent speculation that Jones was the father of Chyna’s then-unborn child instead of Kardashian, Chyna said on Instagram that Jones was gay to prove that he could not have been the father of her unborn child.
Jones is bisexual, according to his court papers.
Chyna made a second Instagram post the same day in which she allegedly disclosed Jones’ private contact information and accused him of extortion, according to Jones’ court papers. Fearing that he could be harmed, Jones moved from Los Angeles to Louisiana with his family, the suit states.
Chyna and Kardashian had a daughter, Dream Renee, in November 2016 and broke up in 2017. Draper previously dismissed Jones’ defamation and cyberbullying claims against Chyna and the plaintiffs’ claims for public disclosure of private facts and cyberbullying against Kardashian, plus the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim insofar as it pertains to Kardashian’s social media statements.
The dismissed claims were accomplished under the state’s anti-SLAPP — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation — law, which is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
Kardashian, 34, remains a defendant in the Jones case with only an allegation of intentional infliction of emotional distress remaining against him as they pertain to his alleged use of Chyna’s cell phone to send group text messages to Jones threatening to expose him on the Internet and physically harm him, including one text that allegedly read, “I will find out where u are” and “I’m gonna beat your (posterior) for causing stress to my baby…”