LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - California’s law allowing for the quick dismissal of lawsuits challenging free speech won’t protect the producers of “Bling Empire” from a lawsuit by Kelly Li, onetime star of the reality series.
Li sued Jeff Jenkins, his production company and Bongo LLC for allegedly failing to honor a contract under which she’d be executive producer of the series, which highlighted the lifestyles of rich Asians. Netflix canceled the series after three seasons earlier this year.
Li cited contracts with Jenkins in 2018 and 2019 under which they “agreed to work together for the development and the potential production of an unscripted or digital project” that became "Bling Empire." If Jenkins sold the series, the 2018 contract stated, Li “shall be attached as an executive producer.”
In her lawsuit, Li claims Jenkins excluded her as executive producer and failed to give her proper credit.
But for his misrepresentations, Li claimed, she “would not have allowed defendant Jenkins access to her materials, nor would she have participated in the development and production process, and never would have acquiesced to the sale of her property to Netflix.”
Jenkins moved to dismiss her suit under California’s anti-SLAPP (for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law, but a trial judge refused. California’s Second Appellate District Court affirmed in a Sept. 13 decision, ruling Jenkins failed the second part of the two-part test under the anti-SLAPP law.
While the creation of the series was constitutionally protected speech, “in this case there is no `functional relationship’ between the activity challenged in the complaint and the issue of public interest,” the court concluded.