Fairly Legal

"Little Women: LA" star Christy Gibel says she needs court-ordered protection against her husband, and she needs it now ... TMZ has learned.

The reality TV star filed court docs Wednesday in L.A. County asking a judge to grant her a temporary restraining order against her hubby of 5 years -- Todd Gibel.

Our Christy sources claim Todd has been making life for her and her 19-year-old daughter from another relationship miserable in a number of threatening ways. For one, Christy says Todd has been impersonating her via email and shutting her out of her social media accounts. She also suspects he's been ripping up her mail.

On a more petty level ... Christy says Todd's been doing stuff like unnecessarily raising the temperature in the house to unbearable levels. For that reason and others ... Christy says she fears for her life and needs a force field between her and Todd.

The married couple has certainly been going through a tough time lately, as Todd has been battling depression. He told us late last month that he'd be seeking treatment to better his condition -- which he explained was severely affecting his marriage to Christy.

At the time, Todd said ... "Right now Christy and I still live together, but we are just co-existing."

There's been more drama at home, it seems, in recent days -- social media posts Todd's been putting up paint a picture of constant arguing over family coming to visit and their dogs.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, Todd even called cops late Sunday night ... complaining about Christy's pup not shutting its yap when her niece came to visit. We're told cops instructed them to figure it out amongst themselves.

They tried doing that by boarding all three of their dogs up for a day -- Monday, we're told -- but it appears Todd's now fighting with Christy about that too ... saying she's not releasing his own dog, Elvis, to him and holding it hostage against his will.

R. Kelly just got a small victory in the sexual abuse lawsuit, which he'd lost by not responding -- 'cause the judge is giving him a do-over in court ... TMZ has learned.

As we first told you ... R. Kelly's new attorneys filed a motion in Cook County asking a judge to throw out the default judgment entered against the singer back in April when he didn't show up to fight the claims he'd allegedly sexually abused Heather Williams at age 16.

R. Kelly's lawyers argued he was confused and overwhelmed when he got served the court papers in jail. More importantly, they said he's illiterate, and didn't know what he was reading.

Looks like the judge bought that, and vacated the default judgment... which now means he can fight the lawsuit on its merits. Kelly's attorneys, Zaid Abdallah and Raed Shalabi tell us ... "We’ve never been part of a criminal case where an alleged victim has filed a civil case during a criminal proceeding."

The guy who was suing the Duffer Bros. for allegedly stealing the idea for "Stranger Things" from him is doing a complete 180 and yanking his lawsuit ... right before their trial was set to begin.

Charles Kessler reportedly withdrew his suit against Matt and Ross Duffer Sunday, issuing a statement as well that completely recanted any and all claims of plagiarism he'd made against them over the past year.

His reasoning is a bit odd, as it seems he just realized he had no case against them. Kessler wrote, "After hearing the deposition testimony this week of the legal expert I hired, it is now apparent to me that, whatever I may have believed in the past, my work had nothing to do with the creation of Stranger Things."

He added, "Documents from 2010 and 2013 prove that the Duffers independently created their show. As a result, I have withdrawn my claim and I will be making no further comment on this matter."

TMZ broke the story ... Kessler sued the Duffers back in April of last year, alleging that he'd met with them in 2014 to pitch an idea similar to "Stranger Things" but never heard back -- only to see a show incredibly similar to his idea get greenlit by Netflix courtesy of the bros.

He claimed that his 2012 short film "Montauk" was the inspiration for the show, but he never got any credit ... or cash. The Duffers, meanwhile, fired back saying they had documented evidence that they'd been working on "Stranger Things" since at least 2010.

We reviewed some of those documents -- emails that the Duffers were sending back and forth -- and sure enough, it appeared to prove they were, in fact, developing a "Montauk"-like series well before Kessler came into the picture.

Netflix chimed in on the news as well Sunday, saying ... "We are glad to be able to put this baseless lawsuit behind us. As we have said all along, Stranger Things is a ground-breaking original creation by The Duffer Brothers."

The studio continued, "We are proud of this show and of our friends Matt and Ross, whose artistic vision gave life to Stranger Things, and whose passion, imagination and relentless hard work alongside our talented cast and crew made it a wildly successful, award-winning series beloved by viewers around the world."

11:11 PM PT -- An industry source tells us Kim actually pulls in $1 Million per Instagram post ... and it's likely her legal team will re-file the docs with an adjustment.

Kim Kardashian just filed legal docs revealing just how incredibly powerful and influential she is ... and that power and influence translates into insane cash.

Kim is embroiled in a lawsuit against Missguided USA clothing company, a fast fashion brand. She claims the company used her image to hawk its wares. The company apparently didn't respond to her claims, and she's now going in for a default judgment for $5 mil.

That's not why we're telling you about this. In the docs, Kim justifies the $5 mil by explaining her capacity to make big money. She says she gets between $300,000 and $500,000 FOR A SINGLE INSTAGRAM POST!!!

And, get this ... in the docs, she says she frequently turns down offers for that kind of money because she doesn't want to be associated with the brands.

As for the lawsuit, Kim says her brand is being damaged by Missguided USA associating itself with her.

Kim Kardashian is mired in her studies to become a lawyer, but she's already the recipient of a big award from a legal org.

We've learned Kim and her lawyer, Shawn Holley, will receive the Women Leadership in Law Award next month for their work in getting Alice Johnson freed. The award is also for their ongoing work in the area of prison reform.

Kim and Shawn will receive the award at a conference in Bev Hills, sponsored by 2 of California's leading legal publications ... The California Lawyer and the Daily Journal.

One of the officers from the org wrote to them, "You both are truly inspirational, and your work has been life-changing."

As you know, Kim and Shawn worked closely with Jared Kushner for months, before finally meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office to push for Johnson's release. The 2 women are widely credited for gaining Alice's freedom.

"I think prosecutors in this country should have something much better to do."

That's Robert Shapiro -- a famous piece of O.J. Simpson's dream team -- going scorched Earth on prosecutors in the Robert Kraft case, telling TMZ Sports they ALL should be ashamed of themselves.

"You know what, I think this case is something that the people that are prosecuting and the people that are investigating should be ashamed of," Shapiro said leaving the restaurant, E Baldi, this week.

"There is so much crime going on in this country and to take valuable assets and time from law enforcement to enforce something that has nothing to do with the allegations they're bringing, I think it's just irresponsible."

Of course, Kraft is currently in the fight of his life down in Florida ... fending off charges of soliciting prostitutes and scrapping like hell to block videos of the alleged incident from getting out to the public.

Shapiro thinks it's straight-up ridiculous that the 77-year-old is going through this ... telling us prosecutors in the case should just drop the charges now and move on.

"It's a very private, personal matter," Shapiro says ... "He's moved on and I think prosecutors in this country should have something much better to do."

Tekashi69's got a new banger just begging to be heard, but a Danish rapper claims his label's stonewalling it and screwing him over ... so he wants a judge to step in and help him out.

According to new legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- Tekashi struck a deal with Danish musician Sleiman in September 2018 to drop the vocals on his track, titled "Red Bandnna [sic]/Black Hoodie." Sleiman claims Tekashi signed over the rights to him, and got paid 88,000 euros for his services.

That's nearly $100k in the U.S.

Sleiman claims after the song was recorded, he began working on getting it released when Tekaski's label, 10k Projects, reached out saying it had exclusive rights to Tekashi, so the track couldn't be released without its permission.

According to the docs ... 10k also threatened Sleiman with legal action if he released the track on his own online.

Sleiman claims 10k's meddling has thwarted him landing a recording deal to release the song ... and he's also out the 88k euros.

He's asking the judge to declare him the rightful owner of the track so he can distribute it ... and he wants his Tekashi money back for his troubles.

Kim Kardashian has her first job offer in the legal world, and it comes from one of the famed attorneys who worked closely with her dad on O.J. Simpson's dream team.

Robert Shapiro, who defended O.J. alongside Robert Kardashian, tells us Kim has what it takes to become a sensational lawyer. And, once she passes the bar ... the door's open for her at his law firm.

Shapiro was leaving E Baldi restaurant in Beverly Hills Wednesday when he broke it down for us ... he says Kim's already done incredible work with no experience, so the sky's the limit now that she's seriously practicing law.

He makes it clear she has a long, difficult road ahead of her and there's a high chance of failure ... but Robert believes she'll pull through.

In fact, Shapiro says it won't take much for her to surpass her father's lawyerin' skills -- a not-so-subtle dig at how much Kardashian actually contributed, strategy-wise, to Simpson's defense.

As we reported ... Kim's been studying hard for the baby bar exam and was hitting the books earlier this week for a torts essay with attorneys Jessica Jackson and Erin Haney, with whom she's apprenticing.

She says she aced it, by the way ... and don't count Shapiro among the doubters.

11:34 AM PT -- Michael Avenatti has waded into the Jussie Smollett drama down in Chicago, saying he almost got directly involved when the case was at its peak in February. Avenatti explains -- in a statement he posted and then deleted from Twitter -- that counsel for the Osundairo brothers reached out to him to see if he could potentially help 'em out.

Avenatti says he ultimately declined, but along the way ... he says he reached out to Kim Foxx to give her a heads-up about his possible involvement as a courtesy. He insists there's nothing improper about this, as he claims it's routine.

There's more -- Avenatti goes on to slam R. Kelly's attorney, Steven Greenberg, saying SG is trying to muck up the Kelly case by personally attacking Avenatti over his own legal woes. What's more, Avenatti says Greenberg is "attempting to create a smokescreen to distract away from the mountain of evidence" Avenatti claims the Cook County State Attorney has against the singer to prove he abused underage girls.

Avenatti says the evidence will speak for itself, adding that he hopes Kim Foxx and co. will bring justice to Kelly's alleged victims. He goes further in praising her, saying she and her staff are "extremely professional, unbiased and focused on the delivery of justice."

It's almost a word-for-word counter to Greenberg's claim that Foxx's office is barely functioning in chaos in the ongoing fallout of the since-dismissed Jussie case.

R. Kelly's legal team thinks Kim Foxx calling the singer a "pedophile" before he's even been given a fair trial is a clear look into how her office is run ... totally dysfunctional.

Kelly's attorney, Steven Greenberg, tells TMZ ... Foxx's texts to a fellow staffer -- in which she implicitly referred to his client as a pedo in comparing his case to Jussie Smollett's -- was outrageous, considering Kelly hasn't been convicted of any such crime.

Greenberg says Foxx is letting her personal biases color the way she characterizes Kelly's case -- which she implied was a way bigger deal than Jussie's in her correspondence that was made public Tuesday.

As we reported ... Foxx called Jussie a "washed up celeb" who'd been slapped with 16 felony counts, while going on to indirectly compare that to R. Kelly only getting charged with 10 counts ... saying there was a discrepancy there as far as priorities go.

Of course, her office ultimately dropped all the charges against Jussie.

Greenberg tells us that the fact that Foxx is even having these types of conversations with her staff in this manner paints a larger picture about the Cook County State Attorney's Office ... he calls it "dysfunctional and chaotic." He also thinks Foxx lacks objectivity.

That said, Greenberg says he isn't calling for Foxx to be removed from the Kelly case just yet. He tells us there's evidence and discovery he wants to get his hands on first before doing anything.

Greenberg adds ... once he and his team get everything they need, they'll make a decision on what to ask as far as Foxx's involvement is concerned.

Kim Kardashian's says she's doing her homework to become a lawyer, and it's a daily grind that's turned her family life upside down -- but she insists haters won't discourage her from achieving her dream.

Kim shared a photo of herself hitting the books with attorneys Jessica Jackson and Erin Haney, studying for what she calls California's baby bar exam -- a requirement for anyone studying law the way she is ... as an apprentice with Jackson and Haney's firm.

She says, "For the next 4 years, a minimum of 18 hours a week is required, I will take written and multiple choice tests monthly." Kim's approaching the end of her first year, and says she's hitting the books hard right now to prep for a Torts essay on negligence due this week.

As we reported, Kim plans to take the bar exam by 2022. She's clearly heard the critics who claim she can only do this because of her privilege and money. She fired back, "I want people to understand that there is nothing that should limit your pursuit of your dreams, and the accomplishment of new goals. You can create your own lanes, just as I am."

She adds, however, it ain't easy -- saying she studies all weekend and at nights after working all day and putting her kids to bed. She says she's so committed to achieving her dream, she changed her number last year to disconnect and focus.

Jussie Smollett is living it up on the beach in Hawaii like a guy with no problems at all -- not at all like a guy who's staring down an impending legal battle with the City of Chicago that could cost him dearly.

The "Empire" star is on vacay right now with his family, laughing it up and catching some rays in paradise. Dude's even going boogie boarding!

It's about as far away from Chicago as he could be, mentally, anyway. The other shoe could drop any day now ... remember, the City of Chicago says it's about to slap him with a civil lawsuit to recover the $130k cost of investigating the alleged homophobic and racist attack.

For now ... Jussie and his fam are snacking, catching waves and having a blast.

We got Jussie over the weekend in Woodland Hills where he was mum about the suit. His lawyer, Mark Geragos, insists Chicago is maliciously defaming his client, hinting the actor might file a lawsuit of his own.

9:11 AM -- Avenatti vehemently denies any wrongdoing. He said, "Any claim that any monies due clients were mishandled is bogus nonsense." He tweeted what he says is a testimonial from the paraplegic client he's accused of stealing millions from ... saying the client signed the doc less than a month ago attesting to his ethics.

Avenatti added he looks forward to proving his innocence.

8:52 AM -- TMZ's obtained the indictment and it's pretty damming. He's being indicted on 36 counts of fraud, perjury, failure to pay taxes and other financial crimes. According to docs ... Avenatti allegedly stole millions from a mentally ill paraplegic on disability who had scored a $4M settlement from L.A. County. The money had been wired to Avenatti in January 2015 and he allegedly hid the dough for years.

Avenatti's also accused of using $2.75 million in proceeds from another client's legal settlement to buy a private jet. Avenatti allegedly concealed that settlement too. The infamous lawyer is also accused of owing millions of dollars in back taxes and making false statements to the IRS.

Michael Avenatti's under a mountain of legal trouble now -- the IRS and the Department of Justice say he's been hit with a 36-count indictment that could land him in prison for life ... but he's already calling it BS.

A federal grand jury in California handed up the indictment Thursday, and if 36 charges sound like a lot ... it is. He faces up to 335 years in prison if convicted!!!

Avenatti says he intends to fully fight all charges and plead not guilty. He added, "I look forward to the entire truth being known as opposed to a one-sided version meant to sideline me."

As you know ... Avenatti was arrested and charged last month for allegedly trying to extort millions out of Nike. That case was brought on by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York -- and on the same day, the U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A. announced a separate case against him for wire fraud.

If you're keeping score, that's 3 federal cases and dozens of charges.

As we reported ... Avenatti allegedly siphoned off a $1.6 million settlement he scored for a client in 2017 and hid it in a personal bank account he controlled in the wire fraud case. He's also accused of defrauding a bank for millions of dollars worth of loans by submitting fake tax returns between 2011 and 2013.

12:56 PM -- Kim's attorney, Shawn Holley, tells TMZ ... Kim's been authentically interested in the law for a long, long time and adds she's truly interested in being a justice warrior.

Check out the vid ... Holley tells us Kim was much more involved in helping Alice Marie Johnson get freed than people might think.

Kim Kardashian wants to take the law into her own hands ... by becoming an attorney, and she's aiming to get it done within 3 years.

Kim revealed her legal aspirations -- saying she's actively studying to be a lawyer -- in a Vogue profile. She's not attending a law school, but she does have a master plan to take the bar exam by 2022.

In order to prepare for that, she has begun a 4-year apprenticeship at a San Francisco-based law firm ... which she got started last summer with support and consulting from Van Jones and attorney Jessica Jackson.

Her reason for embarking on this difficult road ... Alice Marie Johnson.

As you know ... Kim played a huge role in getting the ex-con released early by lobbying President Trump and even showing up to talk to him face-to-face.

Well, turns out that experience had a bigger impact on Kim than some might've expected. She says, "I’m sitting in the Roosevelt Room with, like, a judge who had sentenced criminals and a lot of really powerful people and I just sat there, like, Oh, sh*t. I need to know more."

Kim adds, "I would say what I had to say, about the human side and why this is so unfair. But I had attorneys with me who could back that up with all the facts of the case. It’s never one person who gets things done; it’s always a collective of people, and I’ve always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society."

Interestingly enough, Kim's been told in the past by her own attorneys that she's got the chops to be a real deal attorney. Looks like she's taking that to heart. Of course, she'd be following in the footsteps of her father, Robert Kardashian.

For the record ... Kim does NOT need to go to law school in order to become a licensed lawyer. She just needs to pass the bar, which she's studying to do right now. Good luck!!!

Jussie Smollett may have just been checkmated by the City of Chicago, and it could cost him his "Empire" job.

The City is now demanding he pay $130k for the overtime required to investigate the now-infamous "attack." A City official sent Jussie a demand letter, but his people have already rejected the request, saying the only person owed anything is Jussie -- as in, an apology from the Mayor and Police Superintendent.

This has now set up a courtroom showdown, and sources connected to the Mayor tell TMZ ... they will absolutely file a civil case to get the money. Under the law, the City can actually collect 3 times the actual amount owed as a penalty -- meaning around $390,000.

If Jussie fights it in court, his "attack" case will be fully litigated. A judge will have to decide if the attack was fake before deciding whether Jussie is required to pay. What's more, the judge would only have to rule that it's more likely than not -- 51/49 percent -- that Jussie faked the attack. That's a much lower standard of proof than a criminal case, which requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt for a conviction.

Now here's the hard part for Jussie. If a judge rules the attack was fake, it gives the honchos at "Empire" all the ammo they need to say he's fired, despite the fact the State's Attorney has dismissed the criminal case.

And, to add insult to injury, if Jussie loses the case but refuses to pay the judgment, the City can execute on the judgment, and that would include garnishing wages and freezing bank accounts -- including his "Empire" salary.

Michael Avenatti's new legal woes -- being accused of extortion and fraud -- could derail the case against R. Kelly ... that's what the singer's lawyer thinks.

R. Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, tells TMZ ... now that Avenatti has been charged with extortion as well as bank and tax fraud, his credibility is now a centerpiece in the singer's case -- specifically, the circumstances surrounding how prosecutors obtained a key piece of evidence.

That evidence, of course, is a sex tape that Cook County investigators claim shows R. Kelly having sex with an underage girl, who's alleged to be 14 years old. It's what many believe to be a smoking gun against R. Kelly ... and the catalyst that led to a 10-count indictment.

Greenberg says the issue of "chain of custody" -- how Cook County got hold of that tape via Avenatti -- is now questionable. Greenberg strongly suggests the possibility the tape could've been altered before it got to prosecutors.

Sources connected to the case tell us that the man who handed the tape over to Avenatti is a whistle-blower who has a history of extorting R. Kelly.

We're told the man recently confessed to prosecutors in Chicago that he squeezed about a million dollars out of R. Kelly's team in the past to stop the tape from going public. So, the question ... if the guy got the cash, how would Avenatti have gotten it?

Remember, there were supposedly TWO R. Kelly sex tapes that Avenatti turned over to Cook County officials, but Greenberg tells us he's only aware of one.

Either way, if Greenberg can create reasonable doubt in the jury's mind as to authenticity ... he could get R. Kelly off. Hey, we've seen it happen before.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib says President Trump is NOT off the hook in Robert Mueller's Russian collusion investigation ... because she clearly doesn't trust the man who summarized it.

We got the Democrat Congresswoman at Reagan National and raised the issue ... isn't it a good thing for the country if the Prez didn't collude with Putin and Co.? The Congresswoman recoiled and made it clear ... she's not convinced Trump's clean, given all we know is what his hired gun, Attorney General William Barr, said in his letter.

Barr did quote Mueller's conclusion on the issue of collusion ... "[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

The unconvinced Tlaib says the only way this "dark cloud" can be lifted is for the report to be released in full, without a cushion from a Trump ally.