Erika Jayne is facing a new lawsuit.
After being pulled into a number of cases filed against her estranged husband, Thomas Girardi, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member is facing yet another legal battle after both she and her company, EJ Global, LLC, were named as defendants in a $2.1 million complaint filed on Thursday.
According to the documents, the lawsuit claims Erika, 50, “aided and abetted” Tom, 82, as he and his law firm, Girardi Keese, committed misdeeds. But according to Erika’s attorney, Evan C. Borges, who shared a statement with PEOPLE, the complaint is nothing more than “another misguided effort to blame Erika for the conduct of others in which she had no part.”
“Erika has no law degree and never worked at or managed her former husband’s law firm,” he explained. “Whatever Mr. Girardi or others at his law firm did or said to the plaintiffs in this case, Erika had no knowledge or role in any of it. The focus should be on Mr. Girardi, his law firm, and anyone else who enabled what he did. Piling on Erika may generate publicity, but it’s without any basis in reality.”
The $2.1 million lawsuit was filed on behalf of Kathleen Bajgrowicz, the mother of late NFL star Chuck Osborne, who died in 2012 due to repeated trauma to his head, and attorney Manuel H. Miller, who Thomas worked with on the case. The lawsuit claims that Erika “knew about” Thomas’ plan to keep the money owed to the parties involved in an effort to fund “her notoriously lavish lifestyle.”
While Thomas was supposed to turn over the funds after he and his team reached a settlement with the NFL in regard to Chuck’s injuries, the lawsuit claims he “lulled Plaintiffs into believing that the funds could not be distributed to anyone until various issues were first resolved.”
“Unknown to Plaintiffs, Girardi had already taken their money and breached his and the firm’s fiduciary duty to distribute the funds to Plaintiffs,” they noted, adding that Erika was “intimately involved in Girardi & Keese’s business dealings.”
“Defendants knew that Plaintiffs were fraud victims but did nothing to protect them and instead prioritized their own financial gain at Plaintiffs’ expense,” the suit stated. “Defendants should be required to compensate Plaintiffs for the harm they have caused and should be punished for aiding and abetting Girardi’s breach of fiduciary duty and their financial elder abuse of Plaintiffs.”
In other news, Erika told PEOPLE earlier this week that she’s “not doing the older thing anymore” when it comes to dating.
“I’m 50, so maybe somebody in my age range,” she said of her ideal suitor. “I love intelligent men and I like people that are confident. And I want to have fun. I would really like to have a nice conversation. I’m technically still married, so I’m in a very weird place.”
While Erika is fresh off of filming on RHOBH season 12, she told the outlet that she’s keeping her personal life private.
“It’s not exactly tumbleweeds, but there are some hot moments. I don’t kiss and tell, so I’m not telling,” she teased.
As for other aspects of her life, Erika admitted she’s been having a “hard time.”
“My life was turned upside down last year, and this is where I’m at and picking up the pieces. And I’ve struggled and I’ve stumbled, and I can admit that, and I can go on with my life,” she said. “Some days I wish you weren’t watching me rebuild my life, but it’s true. It’s what happens. I’m human. I’m here to tell my story, and it’s not always perfect.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 12 is expected to begin airing on Bravo sometime this spring or summer.
