“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne won her legal battle this week against former colleagues of her estranged husband (famed attorney Tom Girardi) that sued her for fraud in 2020, Jayne’s attorney confirmed to the Los Angeles Times.
L.A. Judge Richard Fruin found no evidence Monday of wrongdoing on Jayne’s part after attorneys Philip R. Sheldon and Robert P. Finn accused her in a $5-million lawsuit of aiding and abetting her husband. In March, the State Bar of California filed discipline charges against Girardi, 83, who allegedly misappropriated millions in client funds while practicing law.
Per court documents obtained by The Times, Fruin ruled that Sheldon and Finn could not prove that Jayne, 51, was aware Girardi was using their share of settlement money to support the couple’s luxurious lifestyle. The judge dismissed the plaintiffs’ argument and exhibits — including Jayne’s income and expense schedule — as an “irrelevant” combination of “inference” and “circumstantial evidence.”
Additionally, Fruin determined that neither Jayne nor Girardi owed the plaintiffs any fiduciary duties, defined by the Cornell Law School as an obligation to “act in a way that will benefit someone else, usually financially.”
An attorney representing Sheldon and Finn told Page Six on Wednesday that Fruin “wrongly focused” on corrupt activity that wasn’t central to their case, which allegedly led to a “discrepancy” in the judge’s ruling.
Meanwhile, Jayne’s lawyer said in a statement provided to The Times that he and his client were “gratified that based on a review of actual evidence by a court of law, Erika has been exonerated.”
“We expect that other ‘aiding and abetting’ lawsuits against Erika, which accuse her of participating in some sort of ‘fraud,’ will fail for the same reason — they are contrary to the truth and based on no real evidence,” Jayne‘s attorney Evan C. Borges added.
Jayne also celebrated her legal victory Wednesday on Instagram, writing, “Thank you to my friends that have stood beside me. All I asked for was time and understanding.”
In November 2020, Jayne filed for divorce after 21 years of marriage to Girardi, who was disbarred earlier this year and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. On Wednesday, The Times reported that Girardi wired $300,000 worth of settlement money intended for clients of his Wilshire Boulevard law firm, Girardi Keese, to an L.A. justice with whom he was having an affair in 2015.
Jayne reacted to The Times’ report Wednesday on Instagram, writing, “Wow. I knew about jewelry, shopping sprees, and plastic surgery but this really threw me for a loop.”