Photo: Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Rob Kardashian is entitled to a trial of his civil assault and battery allegations against his former fiancee and reality TV partner Blac Chyna, his attorney argued today -- but a lawyer for Chyna countered that video evidence disproves much of what the plaintiff has to say and so the case should be dismissed.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gregory W. Alarcon did not immediately rule on Chyna's renewed motion to toss Kardashian's case. He took the case under submission and said he would have a decision soon.
Kardashian sued Chyna in September 2017, alleging that she tried to strangle him with a phone charging cord and twice pointed a gun at his head, threatening to kill him on Dec. 14 and 15, 2016, at his sister Kylie Jenner's Hidden Hills home. Chyna was allegedly under the influence of drugs, and their baby daughter, Dream Renee -- now 5 years old -- was sleeping upstairs at the time.
In September 2020, Judge Randolph M. Hammock said a jury should decide who is telling the truth, and he denied a motion by Chyna's lawyer, Lynne M. Ciani, to dismiss the two claims.
``My confidence in this ruling is literally 100 percent,'' Hammock said at the time.
Ciani then brought a renewed dismissal motion that was heard Wednesday. In her argument, she says unaired video footage of the former couple's ``Rob & Chyna'' reality television show shot a day after ``the alleged brutal attack'' depicted Kardashian laughing and smiling in the waiting room of a dental office.
Later, while speaking with a dentist, Kardashian answers in the negative when asked if he has any medical issues, according to Ciani.
``With its own eyes the court can see there are no scratches, marks or injuries whatsoever,'' said Ciani, who told Alarcon that Hammock ruled without watching the video evidence.
Ciani said the gun was unloaded and that an allegation that Chyna ripped open Kardashian's shirt and scratched him should be taken into context with the plaintiff's own deposition statement in which he said, ``Being scratched by a female is one of the best things a man could ask for.''
Chyna has admitted she damaged a television at the home that belonged to Kylie Jenner, but denies doing internal damage to the walls, Ciani said. Chyna playfully put the phone cord around Kardashian's neck to get his attention because he was playing video games, according to Ciani.
But Kardashian's lawyer, Melissa Y. Lerner -- who called the dismissal motion ``frivolous -- said there are ``hotly contested facts'' in the case that a jury should decide.
Lerner said much of Ciani's argument on Wednesday was the same she raised in losing the similar motion in September 2020, when her assertions were '`flatly rejected.''
Repeating the phone cord and gun allegations, Lerner also said Chyna has conceded that a ``third party'' had to intercede and pull Chyna and Kardashian apart, that Chyna destroyed Christmas ornaments and that she threw something at the television and ``smashed it.''
``Where there's smoke, there's fire,'' Lerner said.
Chyna's dismissal motion ``was not supported in September 2020 and it's not supported this time around,'' Lerner said.
Although the judge in the first dismissal motion did not view the video, he took Ciani's word about what was depicted in it, Lerner said.
Chyna, 33, and Kardashian, 34, began dating in January 2016. The two broke up in the summer of 2017.
In a related suit, Chyna sued Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian West, Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, alleging they lied about Chyna assaulting Rob Kardashian when speaking to E! network executives in order to prevent Chyna from booking a second season of ``Rob & Chyna.'' Trial of that case is scheduled April 15, but Rob Kardashian's lawyers are arguing for trying the case at the same time as their client's case against Chyna. Ciani opposes the consolidation.
In February 2020, Hammock severed from the related suit Chyna's revenge porn claim against Rob Kardashian and directed that it be tried separately. The claim involves what Chyna's court papers call ``humiliating and degrading'' photos that Rob Kardashian allegedly posted of Chyna in July 2017.