A state appeals court affirmed today that a lawsuit filed against YouTube’s co-founder by Kim Kardashian and Kanye West concerning footage of their marriage proposal can move forward, despite the defendant’s claims that the case violates his First Amendment rights.
“(Chad) Hurley represented he would keep confidential certain information about the event to the production company, which then assigned its rights to (Kardashian and West),” Justice Tricia Bigelow wrote in the 11-page, unanimous decision of the three-member panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
In March 2014, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ruth Kwan rejected Hurley’s assertion that the lawsuit should be dismissed. Kwan ruled that although the video was protected activity, Hurley could not meet the second prong of showing that Kardashian and West failed to demonstrate a “probability of prevailing” in their lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed in October 2013 after a video of West’s proposal to Kardashian that same month was posted on MixBi, a collaborative video application that allows people to download videos taken on their phones, then edit and splice them. Hurley is currently CEO of MixBit.
The complaint alleges breach of contract, fraud and unjust enrichment, and that Hurley ignored a confidentiality agreement he signed with West and Kardashian.
The rapper proposed to Kardashian at AT&T Park in San Francisco in October 2013 during her birthday party.
“Hurley was one of several dozen guests in attendance,” Bigelow wrote. “Although he was not personally invited, Hurley was admitted as the guest of someone who was invited.”
The video “garnered considerable attention from the media and the public,” receiving more than 1.5 million hits, Bigelow wrote. The video remained on MixBit until Nov. 11, 2013, when it was taken down at the request of Kardashian and West, Bigelow wrote.
Kardashian and West’s court papers say that until the video was posted, MixBit was not doing well financially.
Hurley maintained he could not have committed fraud because he did not read the contract and did not know about the confidentiality provision. But Bigelow wrote that fraud could nonetheless be inferred from the circumstances surrounding his posting of the video within hours of leaving the event.
Footage of the proposal and the party aired on “Keeping up With the Kardashians” in February 2014.
The appeal put the ongoing pretrial sharing of information between the two sides on hold until the justices ruled. The case will now go back before Kwan for further proceedings.
