Fairly Legal

Justin Hartley is ringing in the new year by unveiling his new romance.

The "This is Us" star just posted a pic of him celebrating New Year's Eve with Sofia Pernas in their "quarantine den." You can see from the pics ... Justin has clearly moved on.

Justin posted, "Last minutes of 2020 here in LA. Bring on 2021! Happy New Year!" They dressed up for the pic, despite it being shot in a kitchen.

They've been dating for a while, and dropping clues along the way. Sofia posted a pic of a dude leaning on a countertop, cigar and drink in hand, with the caption "Easy like Sunday mornin." He responded with a pic of himself poolside with a dog with a similar caption, "Paisley like Sunday mornin."

The 2 have history ... both were on "The Young and the Restless," along with his estranged wife Chrishell Stause.

As we reported, Justin filed for divorce last year ... a move that stunned Chrishell. She said she had no warning, although she later said he'd threatened to leave many times before.

Zara Holland, a “Love Island” star and Miss Great Britain 2015, could be facing time behind bars in Barbados, after allegedly trying to board a plane bound for England when her boyfriend tested positive for COVID.

The reality star and Elliott Love were reportedly trying to board the plane to avoid being taken to a quarantine facility.

They were tested 6 days ago upon their arrival to the island and ordered to self-quarantine until they got the results. The results came back and Love tested positive, according to The Sun. They were given red wristbands and the plan was for them to quarantine at a military base that is now used to isolate COVID-positive people.

They reportedly tried to jump the gun by cutting off their wristbands, calling a cab and hightailing it to the airport. Someone apparently found the wristbands and figured out what was up and called the cops. The couple was corralled at airport security and taken into custody. They're reportedly being held in the COVID-wing at a local hospital.

They could both face possible criminal charges if true, which includes the crime of endangering the lives of others. The crime carries a maximum sentence of 1 year in jail.

Zara's had her issues before. She lost her beauty crown after video aired on "Love Island" of her performing oral sex on another contestant.

Danny Masterson's rape accusers -- who sued him and The Church of Scientology for allegedly stalking them -- are facing an uphill battle ... because the church's own leaders will ultimately get to play judge and jury in their case.

According to a new court order obtained by TMZ ... Chrissie Carnell Bixler -- along with her husband, Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala -- and another rape accuser entered into a written agreement when they were still members of the church, which says "any dispute, claim or controversy" that arises between them must be resolved by the church ... instead of by the courts.

The L.A. Superior Court ruled on Wednesday that this agreement is binding, and requires them to "use Scientology internal Ethics, Justice, and binding religious arbitration procedures" for such disputes.

The arbitration clause goes on to say these issues will be resolved by "application to senior ecclesiastical bodies, including, as necessary, final submission of the dispute to the international justice Chief of the Mother Church of the Scientology religion."

As we reported ... Bixler and 3 other women who've alleged Masterson sexually assaulted them filed their suit in August 2019, claiming they've been mercilessly stalked by the Church of Scientology in an effort to silence them.

The 4 officers charged in the killing of George Floyd might have to wait a few more months to stand trial ... because the State of Minnesota believes it will be better for public health.

Prosecutors filed legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- asking to continue the trial to June 7 due to the recent approval of 2 COVID-19 vaccines. The State believes "moving the start of this trial to June 2021 would reduce the public health risks associated with conducting the trial during the COVID-19 pandemic" in light of this development.

Prosecutors add that moving the trial from March to June "would also reduce the likelihood that the trial will be disrupted by COVID-19 cases among court staff, lawyers, jurors, and witnesses."

The State makes a point to say it's ready to try the case March 8 as scheduled, but feels a 3-month delay would be in the best interest of public health ... especially in a high-profile case that may pose unique health risks.

According to the docs ... the trial involves "a larger-than-usual number of participants, including four Defendants, their counsel, and dozens of witnesses" and "is likely to be the subject of large public demonstrations, which may increase the risk of community spread of COVID-19."

A delay might work out for all parties, because just 2 weeks ago defense lawyers for the 4 former Minneapolis PD officers in Floyd's case argued for more time to prepare for the trial, because prosecutors revealed potential evidence after a court-imposed deadline.

Lil Tjay couldn't avoid getting arrested this time -- 4 days after NYPD searched him and found nothing, cops pulled him over again ... and now he's facing some serious charges.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the rapper was busted Wednesday afternoon in Brooklyn and booked for criminal possession of a weapon, marijuana possession and grand larceny.

We're told Lil Tjay was in a vehicle with 4 others when cops pulled them over for switching lanes without signaling. Our sources say the officer smelled weed in the car, which resulted in a search and the discovery of 4 loaded handguns and a large amount of marijuana.

We're told neither the rapper nor anyone in the vehicle took ownership of the firearms or the weed, so they were all hit with possession charges. It's unclear why they're also facing the grand larceny charge.

The woman who falsely accused a 14-year-old boy of stealing her cellphone and then physically attacked him is now wanted by the NYPD, and new video shows the attack.

The NYPD just released surveillance video from the Arlo SoHo hotel in NYC, showing the end of the confrontation, where the woman clearly attacks the child before fleeing.

Cops have put a pic of her mug out, asking the public to help them locate her.

As we reported, the child and his parents, Grammy-winning jazz musician Keyon Harrold and his wife, Kat, a musician herself who plays sax for Beyonce, were at the hotel when the woman confronted them and accused the child of stealing her iPhone.

After causing a scene, attacking the child and fleeing, an Uber driver found her phone in his car and returned it. So, she left it in the Uber.

Harrold spoke at a rally at City Hall Wednesday, along with his famed lawyer, Ben Crump, and Rev. Al Sharpton. He played "America the Beautiful" and "We Shall Overcome."

Joe Exotic has not been pardoned yet, but it sounds like he has a plan to get sprung before Trump says adios to D.C.

The "Tiger King" star's legal team will fly to Washington next Wednesday ... we're told for a "high level" meeting in connection with their pardon petition.

Eric Love, who leads the legal team, clearly knows how to stroke Trump's ego. They chose January 6 for a reason ... it's the final straw, when the House votes to ratify Joe Biden as the next President, and when Trump's planning a rally.

There's a buzz in D.C. Trump may pardon a bunch of people Jan. 6 as a distraction, so the House vote doesn't get the attention it would otherwise get.

Joe's got several decades of sentence left, and, as we reported, he's already thinking about dying. Joe has told his team he does not want to be put on a ventilator if he contracts COVID, which is running rampant in the prison.

Killer Mike is all about trees ... and we don't mean the Christmas variety.

The Atlanta rapper, activist and marijuana mogul joined us on "TMZ Live" and made the case why Black people deserve a big piece of the cannabis pie.

The way Killer Mike sees it ... ganja's popularity in America has largely been built on the backs of Black folks, so he says they deserve at least 25 percent of the industry -- profits, licenses, businesses, etc.

While legalization and decriminalization continue to gain traction at the state level, one of the criticisms is the lack of access for minorities to make money off a substance that put so many behind bars. Mike uses prohibition to explain why we're making the same mistake twice here.

Killer Mike's also pushing President-elect Joe Biden to be like Bernie Sanders and pledge to decriminalize dank ... and he shares his protest plans for April 20, the unofficial stoner holiday.

Logan Paul's reckless filming of a dead body hanging in a Japanese forest torpedoed a movie he was signed on to star in, and it cost the production company millions ... this according to a new lawsuit.

Planeless Pictures just filed suit against the YouTuber, claiming they inked a deal with him in 2016 to make a movie -- starring Logan as a fictionalized version of himself -- called "Airplane Mode," which was supposed to be a spoof on modern-day trend-setters, like the Paul brothers and other social media folks.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Planeless claims they were all set to have Logan star in, write and help produce the flick, and he'd agreed to help get other influencers on board as well, including Jake Paul, Juanpa Zurita, Nick Bateman, Amanda Cerny and others. The idea was that they'd distribute it through YouTube and other social media platforms -- via said influencers' pages -- in a new, revolutionary way to market and monetize the film.

Planeless even says Google inked a $3 million licensing deal with them for the movie -- but they claim it all came crashing down when Logan foolishly filmed himself in Aokigahara, Japan (otherwise known as the "suicide forest"), where he documented the hanging death of a man up close. You know what happened after that on his end, but according to Planeless' claim, they say his boneheaded move completely destroyed the movie deal.

Early reports of shots being fired in downtown Nashville before Anthony Quinn Warner blew his RV and himself to smithereens may be bogus -- because we've now learned there's no evidence he or anyone opened fire.

Federal law enforcement sources involved in the investigation and with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... yes, officers initially responded to the scene on Christmas morning after receiving reports of shots fired -- but since then, officials haven't been able to find anything to back that up.

We're told investigators have zero evidence to suggest Warner opened fire in or around the explosion site. Our sources say their initial theory was that Warner may have fired shots to get the cops to the downtown area where they would hear the recording from the RV of an impending explosion and clear the area so no one would be injured or killed in the blast.

There's another, more sinister theory ... that Warner wanted cops there to get close to the explosion, but officials now don't believe that. They say everything Warner did was to avoid loss of life, which is why he chose 6:30 AM on Xmas morning.

Now, our sources do say ammo was recovered at the scene, including exploded rounds that authorities say came from the RV ... however, they don't have markings of rounds fired from a gun. Authorities are convinced that ammo was in pristine condition until the explosion.

As for that loud bang prior to the blast, heard by the people who called 911 -- and we're told multiple people called -- our federal sources say they believe it could have been a recording of gunfire blaring from the RV, which would accomplish the same purpose of getting cops there to clear the area, but they just don't know for sure.

As we reported, there seems to be increasing evidence the AT&T building was Warner's main target.  Authorities think he may have been paranoid about 5G technology.

WWE Star Shad Gaspard's widow claims the Venice Beach lifeguards on duty the day her husband died left him to fend for himself ... and she wants L.A. and California to pay for her loss.

Siliana Gaspard filed a wrongful death suit ... alleging the lifeguards weren't up to snuff in protecting Shad from drowning, which she says happened on the government's watch.

In her docs, obtained by TMZ, Siliana claims there wasn't sufficient signage on Venice Beach the day Shad died to warn him of the dangers of strong currents with the potential to take him under.

Not only that, but she claims the lifeguard towers that day were significantly understaffed and the lifeguards negligently opted to only save their 10-year-old son ... and left Shad "in the water to die."

You'll recall ... Shad had apparently instructed lifeguards to focus on saving his son, but had gone under the surface when they returned for him.

He was missing for a few days before his body washed up onshore -- but he was, deservedly, hailed for his heroism and sacrifice to save his child.

It's interesting ... after the tragedy, Siliana praised the lifeguards and divers who attempted to save and locate Shad, saying ... "We’d like to once again thank the lifeguards, coastguard, divers, fire and police departments for their efforts."

Based on the lawsuit, it seems she's had a change of heart.

The parents of a Black teen falsely accused of stealing a white woman's phone say they dreaded the idea of having to tell him his race might've been the trigger ... but they did.

Jazz musician Keyon Harrold and his wife, Kat, joined us Monday on 'TMZ Live' after a disturbing episode at the Arlo Hotel in NYC this weekend ... where Keyon captured what many might consider a "Karen" insisting his 14-year-old had stolen her misplaced phone ... which was NOT true.

After she lunged at the boy and demanded a manager force him to give her his phone ... Keyon says her device was eventually returned by an Uber driver, who'd found it in his car. So, she was wrong after all -- and Keyon, at the time, said nobody offered an apology.

Fast-forward a couple days ... and it's clear the family is still rattled by an incident they say was likely fueled by racism. Keyon says he honestly doesn't know why the woman assumed his son, of all people, had her phone ... explaining he was dumbfounded in the moment.

The boy's mother, Kat, detailed the excruciating conversation she had after the fact when her son asked why he might've been singled out ... and her answering with the fact that his skin color possibly had something to do with it. It's gut-wrenching hearing her break it down.

Kenya Barris -- the creator of "Black-ish" and other spinoffs -- is asking a judge to step in to force his sister to keep her distance ... because he claims she's cashing in on his name, and threatening his kids.

The wildly successful writer, director, actor and TV producer just filed for a restraining order against Colette Barris -- his own sibling, who teaches professionally and also writes books -- because of fears Kenya has that she's going to harm his kids ... in one way or another.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Kenya documents years of alleged incidents in which he claims she piggybacked on his name and their familial relationship to hook herself up with opportunities in Hollywood. But, after failed attempts to get her own projects off the ground -- either because meetings went nowhere, or because Kenya refused to help her -- he claims he now worries that Colette will take out her anger against him on his six children.

Due to that, he's now asking a judge to enforce a court-ordered shield of protection -- even if temporarily -- so she has to stay away from him and his family and cease communication.

Kenya says he's had a rocky relationship with his sis for years, all because he claims she insists on cashing in on the family name and using him for her own prospects ... not to mention allegedly demanding he take care of her and their extended fam with cash.

Kenya describes several alleged episodes in which he says Colette has procured meetings with big shot studio executives to pitch TV show ideas of her own ... all under what Kenya calls false pretenses, using his name and fake support to cozy up and secure face time. In some instances, Kenya says things actually got rolling for her ... all because some execs felt pressure to help Colette due to pending projects with him.

There's also this ... Kenya alleges Colette recently sent him a legal demand letter, saying he MUST fund a movie project of hers in the amount of $4 million (based on a novel of hers). He also claims that she's told him if he doesn't do what she says ... she'd go public.

A bust of Breonna Taylor was vandalized, smashed into pieces, just 2 weeks after it was installed.

The statue graced an area of downtown Oakland, with the inscription, "Say Her Name Breonna Taylor."

The cops are now on the hunt for the vandal/vandals. Since it's in the downtown area there may be surveillance video that helps police find the culprit, but so far no one has been named a suspect.

The sculptor, Leo Carson, said he's starting a GoFundMe page to pay for the repairs.

Carson was furious, saying ..."This vandalism is an act of racist aggression, and it shows why sculpture and art matters," adding, "I made this sculpture to support the Black Lives Matter movement and while I'm overcome with rage and sadness at their cowardly act, their vandalism will make her even more potent."

Dr. Dre is warning his estranged wife ... the party's over when it comes to money, because he claims he's giving her way more now than she'll get when the divorce is final.

As we reported, Dre says he's been footing the bill for all Nicole Young's expenses, to the tune of $293,306 a month while the divorce winds its way through the courts.

TMZ broke the story ... Dre is hanging his hat on a prenup that says all of their property is separate, although she's entitled to spousal support if they divorce. Nicole claims Dre tore up the prenup shortly after their 1996 marriage, but he denies that.

Nicole has filed legal docs asking for $2 million a month in temporary spousal support.

Sources connected to Dre tell TMZ, the court-approved schedule establishing the factors in computing spousal support entitles Nicole to somewhere between $138,622 and $81,002 a month. As one source told TMZ, "Once this case is resolved and Dre discontinues his current practice of paying for all of her expenses, Nicole is going to have to learn to tighten that belt."

We've learned Dre has now filed a police report, claiming Nicole embezzled a total of $385,029 from one of Dre's companies. They further claim when Nicole was asked about it during her deposition, she took the 5th. Her lawyers have previously said she was entitled to the money.

Cardi B's legal beef with her ex-manager is finally over -- and she seems to be pretty dang pleased with the results.

The rapper settled the dispute between her and Shaft, her ex-manager, who sued her for $10 mil in 2018 ... claiming he discovered her, and that she left him out in the cold once she truly blew up after the success of her first megahit "Bodak Yellow."

Shaft claimed his team of writers/producers crafted that song for her, and not only that ... he alleged he put her on the path to mainstream fame by getting her on VH1's 'Love & Hip Hop' -- only to be denied proper payment when she secured millions thereafter.

Cardi, of course, countersued for $15 million ... claiming the contract she signed with him way back when was incredibly unfair and way too one-sided -- not to mention greedy in how much of a cut he was allegedly trying to collect from her (a 20% commission at first and then 50% off her Sony publishing deal later, she claimed). She also said that Shaft tried controlling almost every aspect of her life ... including whom she could date, like Offset.

Those lawsuits were working their way through the system for a while -- and Cardi was even making requests about how her upcoming deposition oughta be handled -- but in the end ... it appears both sides have reached a mutual agreement to sweep all this under the rug.

AllHipHop obtained docs showing the matter was dismissed with prejudice -- meaning neither party can refile about the same grievance again. They also agreed to cover their own attorneys' fees.

Usually, that means money's exchanged hands in some form -- but by the way Cardi's talking after news broke of her settlement ... it would appear she considers herself the victor.