'RHONJ' star Melissa Gorga, NBCUniversal, parent company of Bravo, and the show's producers were the subject of a lawsuit filed by Gorga's former business partner in a Montclair boutique. In a separate matter, the reality star recently announced the discovery that she had been selling fake Chanel merchandise at the boutique. (Astrid Stawiarz | Getty Images)
Despite her claims that the reality show advanced malicious and defamatory statements about her, a former business partner of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Melissa Gorga will not get her day in court.
A judge has ordered that Jackie Beard Robinson, who brought a $30 million lawsuit against Gorga, NBCUniversal (parent company of the show's Bravo network), Andy Cohen, the show's executive producer, and Dorothy Toran, a producer of the show for Sirens Media, settle her complaints in arbitration.
In December, Robinson, Gorga's former partner in the Montclair clothing boutique Envy, filed a lawsuit in federal court for the Southern District of Florida. She sued for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and harm to her "professional, business and personal reputation and livelihood" after Gorga and Cohen made statements about her on "RHONJ" and "Watch What Happens Live," a talk show that followed an episode of the show.
In the season eight premiere of the show in October 2017, Gorga, who lives in Montville, claimed Beard Robinson "snuck in in the middle of the night and took all the clothes" from Envy.
"Wow, so, that lady (Beard Robinson) wound up kinda ripping you off?" Cohen said to Gorga on a post-show episode of "Watch What Happens Live." Gorga said yes.
In the lawsuit, Robinson countered that she had already parted ways with Gorga, who assumed ownership of the store on Jan. 1, 2017, before she went to the boutique "in broad daylight" to gather "her belongings," and that Gorga's lawyer had emailed her to say she could sell the merchandise. One "RHONJ" plotline centered on Robinson teaming up with Kim DePaola -- a nemesis of Gorga in the Bravo show -- to liquidate the Envy merchandise at Posche, DePaola's Allendale boutique.
Lawyers for Cohen, Gorga and NBCUniversal had maintained that Robinson, who had previously appeared on "RHONJ," had signed releases that stipulate arbitration must be conducted in New York to address any complaints arising from the show.
But in the lawsuit, Robinson, who previously owned a boutique in Delray Beach, Florida, said that since the shows were broadcast across the country, they damaged her "reputation and goodwill nationwide," especially in her local Florida community.
According to an April 19 court filing, lawyers for Robinson and Gorga, Cohen and company are required to file a joint-status report within 14 days of the end of arbitration.
The move to arbitration may be something of a win for Gorga, 39. But the reality star recently admitted to selling counterfeit merchandise at Envy, the same Bloomfield Avenue store that is at the center of her dispute with Robinson.
"Chanel has informed Envy by Melissa Gorga that all of the Chanel branded goods previously offered and sold by our company were counterfeit and illegal," Gorga posted on Instagram. "As such, we have ceased all sales of Chanel branded goods and will not be carrying any such goods in our store in the future."
Comments appeared to be disabled on the post.
