LOS ANGELES (AP) – A judge on Friday dismissed part of the case against Kim Kardashian in the lawsuit of former reality star Blac Chyna, while the jury is discussing the remaining facts.
Judge Gregory Alarcon ruled that Chyna’s lawyer, Lynne Ciani, did not make any statements during the trial by Kardashian that were defamatory of Chyna.
The case against Kardashian for interfering in a contract remains alive.  The jury decides on this and on the defamation and contract cases against Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner.
The jurors went home on Friday without reaching a verdict after their first full day of consultations.  Their instructions had to be revised after Kim Kardashian’s decision and the lawyers and the judge answered many questions they asked.  They are scheduled to continue on Monday morning.
Chyna’s lawsuit alleges that the women falsely told TV producers and executives that Chyna had violently attacked her then-fiancé Rob Kardashian in December 2016 in an attempt to cancel her reality show, “Rob & Chyna.”
Ciani claimed during the final discussions on Thursday afternoon that the women had no reason to believe that the attack had taken place, as testimonies, photos and video from the time showed no significant injuries to Rob Kardashian.
“It had no mark on it,” Ciani said.  “There was no call to the police, no trip to the hospital, not even a bandage.”
Kardashian’s lawyer, Michael G. Rhodes, concluded that the women had every reason to believe the reports of the attack by Rob Kardashian and Kris Jenner’s longtime friend Corey Gamble, who broke up the dispute and was a key defense witness.
“Do you remember what Rob looked like at the booth yesterday?  “His pain was real,” Rhodes said.  “This is a real family.  Yes, they are famous, but they are real people.  He was very, very hurt here. “
Ciani gave clear examples of statements through text messages and emails from Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, telling the producers of the series and E!  network on which the broadcast appeared, alleging abuse.
But the case against Kim Kardashian was more vague.
After Alarcon read the jury’s instructions Thursday, Rhodes noted that there was no potentially defamatory statement from Kim Kardashian.
Ciani was outraged by the allegation, but the frustrated judge reprimanded her, saying she had agreed to the jury’s instructions before the trial began.
A similar argument arose in court on Friday over Alarcon’s unusual method of selecting jurors.  Instead of selecting 12 jurors and four alternates, the judge asked the lawyers to select 16 jurors and then randomly selected after final discussions which four were the alternates.
The judge reiterated to Ciani that he had agreed to the procedure before the trial.
In the civil case, nine of the 12 jurors will have to agree on whether three of the Kardashian defendants either knowingly lied that Chyna abused Rob Kardashian or spread the word about it with reckless contempt for the truth.  The same number will have to decide if each of the four illegally interfered with Chyna’s contract with E!  network.
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This story has been corrected to show that the first name of the defense attorney is Michael, not David.