Vanderpump Rules may be out of the news, but Scandoval lives on via the revenge porn lawsuit Rachel Leviss filed against Love Island USA host Ariana Madix.
Los Angeles Magazine detailed Rachel’s – formerly Raquel’s – win in the California Court of Appeal.
A panel of judges ruled that Ariana Madix cannot use California’s anti-SLAPP law to dismiss Rachel’s lawsuit over sexually explicit videos tied to the Scandoval affair. “California’s anti-SLAPP law gives defendants a way to ask a judge to dismiss a lawsuit early if the claims arise from protected free speech or activity involving a public issue.”
The Second District Court of Appeal upheld a Los Angeles Superior Court judge’s decision denying Ariana’s special motion to strike the lawsuit. The ruling means Rachel’s claims against Ariana may continue in the trial court.
ICYMI, the lawsuit stems from Ariana’s ex/Rachel’s paramour, Tom Sandoval, secretly recording sexually explicit FaceTime videos of Rachel without her knowledge during their now very public affair.
According to Rachel, Ariana later discovered the videos on Tom’s cellphone, copied them and unlawfully distributed them. Rachel sued Tom and Ariana in February 2024 on claims of revenge porn, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In reaching its decision, the appellate court pointed to another high-profile celebrity privacy case involving musician Bret Michaels and actress Pamela Anderson. In that case, a federal court ruled that while their romantic relationship may have been newsworthy because of their public personas, that did not make intimate recordings of their sexual activity a matter of legitimate public concern.
“Leviss’s lawsuit will most likely return to the trial court for the ordinary litigation process,” as per reports from LA Mag.
