A Los Angeles jury on Monday found that Kim Kardashian and her family did not unjustly harm the career of model Blac Chyna.
The civil panel had been deliberating since Thursday and returned verdicts in favor of Kardashian, her mother, Kris Jenner, and her sisters Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner.
After the verdict, attorneys for the Kardashian and Jenner family “expressed appreciation” for the jury and said they were “thankful for the steady hand” of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gregory Alarcon.
“The jury sent a clear message to Ms. White and her lawyer — I hope they are listening,” the attorneys said in a statement. “Justice has prevailed.”
Chyna's attorney, Lynne Ciana, said in a statement Tuesday that the jury was given a verdict sheet that was "confusing and unduly prejudicial." Ciani added, based on the sheet marked by jurors, that the jury found statements by Kris and Kylie Jenner — that Chyna attacked and would continue to abuse Rob Kardashian — were not substantially true.
The jury did however mark on the sheet, seen by NBC News, that the women had "reasonable grounds" to believe the statements to be true.
Chyna, whose legal name is Angela White, had claimed that the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians” stars destroyed her television career after she broke up with Rob Kardashian, the only son of Kris Jenner and the late Robert Kardashian Sr.
Their relationship had led to them scoring their own “Keeping Up” spinoff, “Rob & Chyna,” on the E! network. A second season of “Rob & Chyna” was in production when they broke up in 2017 and the show was scrapped.
E! is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and CNBC.
The famous family has since moved their on-screen lives to Hulu, the Disney-owned streaming platform.
Jurors concluded there wasn't enough evidence to find that the defendants lied about Chyna allegedly abusing Rob Kardashian or spread word of the abuse with reckless disregard for the truth. Jurors also said they couldn't find that the Kardashians interfered with Chyna’s contract with the E! network.
She was awarded no damages in the case.
In 2017, Chyna sued the family for $100 million, saying the powerful reality TV stars had defamed her and improperly interfered with her contracts and business dealings.
The trial was closely watched by Kardashian fans and offered a chance for haters of reality TV to vent directly to the genre's first family.
During jury selection last month, several prospective panelists teed off on both the plaintiff and defense, with one person in the jury box saying, “I sincerely hope none of these people get any wealthier because of this.”
A mother said her teen daughter wanted to watch “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”
“I don’t think they were the best role models,” the woman said. “I wouldn’t let her watch anything involving them.”
This is a developing story; please refresh here for updates.
