A judge has granted Rachel Leviss the right to continue her suit. She’s suing former paramour Tom Sandoval and her ex-BFF, Ariana Madix, for revenge porn.
Sandoval attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed back in April. He describes her suit as a “thinly veiled attempt to extend her fame.” He also feels she’s trying to “rebrand herself as the victim instead of the other woman.”
However, a Los Angeles judge has ruled in Rachel’s favor. He says Rachel can continue her claims of eavesdropping and invasion of privacy.
Tom recorded private video chats
Rachel alleges in her lawsuit that she and Sandy frequently engaged in private video calls between 2022 and 2023. But Tom recorded these calls without her knowledge or consent.
Sandoval kept these videos on his phone. When Ariana, his girlfriend at the time, came across the recordings, she sent them to herself. Rachel believes that Ariana shared the videos with others, although Ariana denies this claim. The Chicago star calls Rachel’s lawsuit “an abuse of the legal process.”
However, the judge disagrees. He stated, “Any person who is injured by a CIPA [California’s Invasion of Privacy Act] violation is permitted to bring a civil action against the person who committed the violation.”
“‘Communication’ as used in [CIPA] is not limited to conversations or oral communications,” the judge continued. “[It] encompasses any communication … where any party to the communication desires it to be confined to the parties thereto.”
“If the act covers eavesdropping on or recording of a telephone call, it surely covers the nonconsensual recording of the most intimate and private form of communication between two people,” he concluded.
In court documents obtained by Page Six, Ariana claimed that Rachel “seeks to punish” and “blame” her “for the negative reaction she received as a result of her affair with” Tom.
The judge, however, ruled that “[Leviss] sufficiently alleges a cause of action for intrusion upon seclusion against Sandoval.”
The allegation that Sandoval “secretly record[ed] their private communications and … captur[ed] sexually explicit footage of her without her knowledge or consent” was deemed an invasion of Rachel’s privacy. The suit will go forward.
Vanderpump Rules is now streaming on Peacock.
TELL US – DO YOU BELIEVE THAT ARIANA DIDN’T FORWARD THE VIDEO(S) TO OTHERS?
