In February, Rachel “Raquel†Leviss sued her former Vanderpump Rules castmates Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix. The case is now headed to trial.
The Scandoval suit
February 29, 2024: Reality-TV heads have already litigated Scandoval at brunch and in blogs, but now it’s time to litigate the matter in a court of law. Former Vanderpump Rules star Rachel “Raquel†Leviss is suing castmates Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix for eavesdropping, invasion of privacy, and revenge porn, Deadline first reported. Leviss filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on February 29. The complaint seeks a jury trial and does not accuse Bravo, NBCUniversal, Andy Cohen, or other Vanderpump Rules executives of wrongdoing, though they are mentioned in the filing. “‘Scandoval’ captured the public’s attention in a massive way, went completely viral, and injected new life into Vanderpump Rules,†the filing reads, per Deadline. “It also caused mayhem in Leviss’s life, culminating in monthslong in-patient treatment at a mental-health facility and her departure from the show. Fomented by Bravo and Evolution in conjunction with the cast, Leviss was subjected to a public skewering with little precedent and became, without exaggeration, one of the most hated women in America.â€
The biggest scandal to hit unscripted TV stemmed from an affair between Leviss and Sandoval that soon captivated insatiable fans. When Madix found out about the cheating after accidentally seeing an explicit FaceTime video of Leviss, the messiness reached atomic levels and instantly became all that anyone could talk about, to the point where Sandoval thought it correct to compare his “virality†with that of O.J. Simpson and George Floyd. (He later apologized for the hairbrained comparison.) The lawsuit claims the video was “done illegally without Raquel’s knowledge or consent†and violates California “nonconsensual pornography†laws. “This lawsuit is squarely about illegal behavior and those who traffic in it and enable it,†Mark Geragos, an attorney for Leviss, told Deadline on February 29. “Rachel has apologized for her part in an affair. That’s not a crime. Tom and Ariana are alleged here to have engaged in criminal acts. They then doubled down and used those actions to shame, bully, belittle, and intentionally try to destroy Rachel’s mental health.â€
Sources
deadlineIt’s a date
July 12, 2024: Rachel ‘Raquel’ Leviss’s Scandoval case is going to court. Per Deadline, Judge Daniel Crowley has set a trial to start on November 3, 2025, though the exact date is subject to change. Ariana Madix was not able to get Leviss’s lawsuit thrown out after a July 11 hearing. She had filed a motion arguing that the suit — which accuses her of revenge porn and invasion of privacy — should be dismissed due to free speech protections. However, Judge Crowley did not agree, which cleared the path for trial. (Fellow defendant Tom Sandoval previously also challenged Leviss’s suit, but was mostly unsuccessful; Courthouse News reported in May that Judge Crowley dropped an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim, but upheld the claims of eavesdropping and invasion of privacy.)