Judge drops Blac Chyna's defamation claim against Kim Kardashian following tense exchange with Chyna's lawyer
Prince Williams/WireImage; Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
- A judge dropped Blac Chyna's defamation claim against Kim Kardashian on Friday.
- A Los Angeles jury is still deliberating several other claims stemming from the two-week trial.
- Chyna's attorney and the judge engaged in a heated exchange early Friday.
A judge dropped Blac Chyna's defamation claim against Kim Kardashian on Friday morning following a heated exchange with Chyna's attorney in court.
A Los Angeles jury is still deliberating several other claims in the two-week trial that saw testimony from several members of the famous family and provided scores of sensational courtroom moments.
Chyna, whose legal name is Angela White, is seeking $100 million in damages from Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, and Kylie Jenner, alleging that they unfairly trash-talked her to E! executives five years ago following her split with Rob Kardashian, leading to the cancellation of her "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" spinoff series. The Kardashian-Jenners deny these allegations.
The defamation claims against Kris, Khloe, and Kylie, as well as interference accusations against all four women were still being deliberated by the jury as of publication.
The first day of jury deliberations kicked off with a tense exchange between Chyna's attorney Lynne Ciani and presiding Judge Gregory W. Alarcon over instructions read to the jury on Thursday. Ciani said she wasn't given the opportunity to argue the jury instructions prior to their presentation. Alarcon fervently rejected her claims.
"I don't want to be responsible for your trial tactics," Alarcon told Ciani as he stormed out of the room, declaring a recess.
The court reporter had to interrupt the argument multiple times asking for the two not to speak over each other.
"I did my best," she said after Alarcron had left the courtroom.
The jury instructions included several text messages and emails from the defendants which Chyna's team spent the trial arguing were defamatory. The final instructions, however, did not include any text messages from Kim, leading Kardashian attorney Michael Rhodes to request on Thursday that the defamation suit against her be dropped.
Alarcon ultimately issued a direct verdict for the claims against Kim, arguing in a decision obtained by Insider that Chyna's team failed to establish a defamatory statement made by Kim and provided "no basis" to demonstrate that Kim played a "responsible part" in the publication of any defamatory statement.
As the decision came down, Ciani and Rhodes found themselves in a terse discussion.
"You're the liar," Ciani could be heard telling Rhodes.
A jury decision in the case is likely to come Friday.