LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) – A model who is suing Bravo and Ryan Seacrest Productions received a favorable court ruling in her lawsuit that alleged the reality series “Shahs of Sunset” showed her nearly naked body without her permission.
The California Second Appellate District ruled against a preliminary defense from the defendants on June 29 in the case of Kiara Belen, a former runner-up on “America’s Next Top Model” who is suing for intrusion/right to privacy, tortious appropriation of name or likeness, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
A 2017 episode of “Shahs” focused on a cast member participating in Los Angeles Fashion Week. Belen was working a fashion show there.
Camera crew filmed the female changing room, and Belen says she was shown nearly completely nude while changing clothes in a private dressing area when the episode aired.
She was also shown walking down the runway and is suing for that. Belen, a victim of a 2014 sexual assault who was four months pregnant at the time of the fashion show, says she was “absolutely mortified” to find out how much of her body was shown on TV and that she felt “completely violated” and “objectified… in an offensive way.”
A popular defense is an anti-SLAPP motion, which can be a quick way to dismiss lawsuits when the defendants’ actions are protected by free speech rights.
But that’s not the case here, the Second District ruled.
“The various screen-shots of the episode show there were two different dressing rooms, and that the second dressing room was more private and much less crowded than the first dressing room,” Justice Maria Stratton wrote.
“The screen-shots also show there was a security guard standing outside the door to the second dressing room, allowing access to authorized persons only. The episode footage shows Belen as she undressed in the second, more private dressing room, and further shows her almost fully naked, her breasts exposed (with small blurs covering the areola of her breasts), wearing only underwear.
“She provided evidence that she had a reasonable expectation of privacy that she would not be filmed while nude with her intimate body parts exposed while changing clothes in a private dressing room. That the room was guarded supports a reasonable expectation that the room was not open to, and was protected from, those not properly involved in styling, dressing, and undressing the models within.”
Stratton wrote that Belen has established a probability of success on all of her allegations.