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Kardashians Sued Over Lawsuit That's Alleged to Be a TV Stunt

By Aditi Mukherji, JD on July 12, 2013 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The Kardashians using a lawsuit as drama for their reality show? No way.

Yes way, according to a new lawsuit brought by Ellen Pearson-Kardashian, who married famed O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Kardashian two months before he died.

Earlier this year, the famous Kardashian kids sued Pearson for trying to publish all of their late father's secret diaries for tabloid moola, and now she's suing them back.

Pearson-Kardashian claims that Kris Jenner, along with daughters Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, filed the lawsuit against her to conjure up drama for an episode of their E! series "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."

In a notice filed in U.S. District Court in Central California on Thursday, Pearson-Kardashian claims the lawsuit "was orchestrated off screen by the Kardashians and then scripted for the episode."

The Kardashians and Jenner filed a copyright infringement suit against Pearson-Kardashian in April, claiming that she unlawfully profited from Robert Kardashian's diary and photos from the Kardashians' pre-fame days by hustling them to the tabloids, reports The Wrap.

But Pearson-Kardashian claims the suit was filed for drama: namely, a June episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" titled "Enough Is Enough."

Firing Back at the Kardashians

In this latest legal move, Pearson-Kardashian is firing back with invasion of privacy-related counterclaims, including defamation, public disclosure of private facts, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil harassment and civil conspiracy to defame.

The term defamation is an all-encompassing term that covers any statement that hurts someone's reputation. However, it's important to note that the burden for proving defamation is much higher for public figures.

Public figures generally have to show actual malice -- meaning the defendants knew (or should have known) the claims were false and published them anyway with the intent to harm the public figure.

Since Pearson-Kardashian has been drawn into the (in)famous vortex of Kardashian reality show shenanigans, she may indeed count as a public figure. But that may be an issue for a court to decide, if the lawsuit moves forward.

As for the details of her countersuit, The Wrap and other sources go into all the sordid allegations that Kardashian fans may be craving. For the rest of us, it's probably enough to just sit back and watch what happens.

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