Legal

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry pled with Thomas Markle to stop blabbing to the media before their Royal wedding ... according to text messages sent by the Sussexes.

Meghan and Harry's pleas to Thomas leading up to their nuptials have just been made public in Meghan's lawsuit against an English tabloid, and the text messages spell out the family drama bubbling over before the ceremony.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Prince Harry texted Meghan's father 5 days before the wedding and 2 days after Thomas was caught staging photos with the paparazzi, saying ... "Tom, it's Harry and I'm going to call you right now. Please pick up, thank you."

Another text from Harry to Thomas reads ... "Tom, Harry again! Really need to speak to u. U do not need to apologize, we understand the circumstances but 'going public' will only make the situation worse. If u love Meg and want to make it right please call me as there are two other options which don't involve u having to speak to the media, who incidentally created this whole situation. So please call me so I can explain. Meg and I are not angry, we just need to speak to u. Thanks."

Remember, Thomas was awfully chatty with the press after it was announced he would not be attending the Royal wedding.

Another text from the Sussexes to Thomas says ... "Oh any speaking to the press WILL backfire, trust me Tom. Only we can help u, as we have been trying from day 1."

The docs also reveal texts Meghan sent to her father in May 2018, asking which hospital he was being treated for a heart attack and offering him protection.

Meghan wrote ... "I've been reaching out to you all weekend but you're not taking any of our calls or replying to any texts… Very concerned about your health and safety and have taken every measure to protect you but not sure what more we can do if you don't respond…Do you need help? Can we send the security team down again? I’m very sorry to hear you're in the hospital but need you to please get in touch with us… What hospital are you at?"

The Duchess followed up with another text telling her father she and Harry were "dispatching the same security guys you turned away this weekend to be a presence on the ground to make sure you’re safe."

The docs say Thomas rebuffed the offer, even though Harry "pleaded with Mr. Markle to let them help him."

The families of four of the victims who perished in the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, have filed wrongful death lawsuits themselves -- this after Vanessa Bryant has already gone after the chopper company in court.

The surviving members of the Altobelli family and Mauser family -- the remaining two Altobelli children and Christina Mauser's husband, her son and 2 daughters, respectively -- claim the Island Express's negligence was reason for the death of their loved ones.

In both suits -- obtained by TMZ -- the surviving family members claim Island Express negligently and carelessly breached its duty to own, lease, manage, maintain, control, entrust, charter and operate the helicopter in question in a reasonable manner.

They claim as a direct result of this negligent behavior by the company, their loved ones died in the crash -- which has caused an insurmountable amount of anguish on every level -- physical, emotional, mental and otherwise ... for which the families want damages, both over their own turmoil, but also for what their loved ones could have earned themselves if they had survived the crash and continued to work.

As Vanessa Bryant's wrongful death lawsuit ... when we looked into it appeared Island Express might very well go bankrupt because her damages are so enormous. Their insurance policy will only cover so much.

Neiman Marcus, one of the largest retailers of its kind in America, has hit the mat and can't get up in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and the chain is reportedly ready to file for bankruptcy.

Neiman's 43 stores all shut down during the self-quarantine, along with its Last Call stores and its 2, NYC Bergdorf Goodman department stores. The Dallas-based company is carrying nearly $5 billion in debt, and the payments alone are millions of dollars a month ... bottom line -- they just can't pay the bill ... this according to Reuters, which says the bankruptcy filing could only be days away.

It's not really hard to understand. Retailers who support brick-and-mortar stores need customers to come in and buy things, and there are none. That's why other big chains, such as J.C. Penney, Macy's and Nordstrom are all on the financial ropes.

In the case of Neiman's, nearly all of its employees -- 14,000 strong -- have been furloughed.

It's unclear what kind of protection Neiman's would be seeking in bankruptcy court, but these are clearly tough times.

Twitch and Amazon have just been accused of intentionally and maliciously screwing with Omnis and Teddy Riley.

Jeff Bezos' companies -- yes, Amazon owns Twitch too -- are accused of blatantly ripping off Teddy's streamed concert April 2 on the Omnis internet platform by taking the entire event and putting it on Twitch.

The folks at Omnis have fired off a cease-and-desist letter to the Twitch folks, demanding they put a quick stop to the whole stealing thing.

According to the letter, obtained by TMZ ... "We further understand that Twitch and its affiliated companies, including Amazon.com, Inc., were fully aware of [Omnis'] rights in the Program at the time it was streamed, and that its infringement ... may have been intentional and in malicious disregard of [Omnis'] streaming platform.

Lori Loughlin just got a signal from the judge in her college admissions criminal case -- that the judge is about to open a can of whup-ass on prosecutors for allegedly coaching a key figure in the case to lie.

The judge just ordered prosecutors to get real over something prosecutors allegedly hid for months, but finally surfaced. TMZ broke the story, Lori claimed in documents that FBI agents were browbeating scammer and ringleader Rick Singer to lie, and when he wouldn't they screamed at him. Singer had told agents the money Lori and others paid were donations, but he claimed that agents -- including one named Liz -- told him he should say the money these parents paid were bribes. When he resisted, he says the started screaming at him.

The judge called the allegations "serious and disturbing," adding, "While government agents are permitted to coach a cooperating witness during the course of an investigation, they are not permitted to suborn the commission of a crime." The crime to which the judge refers is clearly that if Singer swore that which was not true, it would amount to perjury.

The judge is asking for answers from prosecutors. As we reported, Lori says they acted so corruptly, she wants the judge to dismiss the case outright.

DePaul's former softball coach allegedly punched his assistant in the face and repeatedly verbally abused players ... but school officials did nothing about it -- this according to a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ Sports.

In the suit, one of the mental health doctors DePaul used regularly, Jenny Conviser, alleges she uncovered a pattern of abuse stemming from Eugene Lenti's softball program.

FYI, Lenti is a legend at the school ... coaching there for nearly 40 years and racking up more than 1,000 career wins.

Conviser -- a noted sports psychologist who worked with DePaul from 2005-2018 -- says in meetings with student-athlete patients in 2016 ... they told her Lenti exhibited abusive behavior often.

In the docs, Conviser says players told her the coach often called them "f**king whores" and "regularly punched them about their bodies," among other things.

Conviser says when she brought this to the attention of school officials ... they failed to properly investigate -- and says it's all because Lenti's sister, Jean Lenti Ponsetto, was the program's athletic director.

Conviser says in 2018, a similar incident happened ... when a patient told her Lenti, during a dispute, "had punched in the face his female Associate Head Coach."

Yet Conviser says when she brought this up to the school once again ... she claims officials not only didn't look into the allegations -- they attempted to cover them up.

In the docs, Conviser alleges the school allowed Lenti to "slip out the back door" and quietly retire. She also says the school fired Lenti's entire staff, including the alleged victim of the punching attack.

Conviser also claims the school terminated its involvement with her and her medical companies ... and also defamed her by painting her as a "befuddled and disgruntled vendor crassly using DePaul’s patients’ well-being as an excuse to extort money."

Conviser is now suing the school -- but not Lenti or other officials -- for retaliation, breach of contract, defamation and more.

We've reached out to DePaul for comment, but so far, no word back yet.

As for Lenti, he unretired one year after leaving DePaul ... and was hired as an assistant coach on Auburn's softball staff in 2019. He's currently still on the school's coaching roster.

We've reached out to Auburn for comment as well, but no word back yet there either.

Joe Exotic is in a desperate situation ... he's isolated in the bowels of a federal prison, unable to fight the government in his $89 million wrongful imprisonment lawsuit, and he's begging the judge for access to a computer and the law library.

The "Tiger King" star just filed a handwritten legal doc, telling the judge he's running out of time to respond to the government's legal docs in the civil lawsuit. Joe says he can't respond without the proper tools, so he wants another 30 days.

Joe says he's been isolated at the Federal Medical Center ... he can't phone anyone, email them ... he has no access to the outside world.

This syncs up with our TMZ Investigation, which aired on Fox last Monday. We were told he was in isolation because inmates from the previous facility where Joe was housed tested positive for the virus. The prison disputes it, but for some reason, he's still in quarantine. His people say Joe is virus-free.

Joe is also appealing his conviction. He has some interesting arguments ... among them, "did the prosecutor throw in animal abuse charges in the murder-for-hire trial just to unfairly prejudice the jury so he'd get convicted?" And, if you saw the special, it's interesting that "hitman" and star prosecution witness Allen Glover revealed a bias by saying he delivered payback to Joe and wished he could have done more to hurt him.

Ayesha Curry is being sued for more than $10 MILLION by a celebrity branding company which claims they built her into a household name ... only to get stiffed when the money came rolling in!

It's all in legal docs obtained by TMZ Sports ... Robert Flutie -- who runs Flutie Entertainment -- claims he was introduced to Ayesha in late 2014, when her only real foray into entertainment was a cooking blog called "Little Lights of Mine."

In his suit, Flutie claims Ayesha -- who's married to NBA star Steph Curry -- expressed dreams of building herself into a global brand and they signed an agreement to work together in Nov. 2014, 5 years after Steph was drafted by the Golden State Warriors.

Since then, Flutie says his company helped Ayesha realize her vision of becoming "a current and modern-day version of Martha Stewart or Rachael Ray" ... with cookbooks, TV shows and a line of consumer products.

Everything seemed to be going well until May 2019 -- when Ayesha fired Flutie and allegedly tried to cut them out of all profits and ownership equity of things she created during her time as a Flutie client.

Now, Flutie is demanding at least $10 million -- plus a 50% interest in Ayesha's Yardie Girl production company, which handles Ayesha's TV projects.

Flutie also wants his stake in Ayesha's Homemade brand, which includes a website and e-commerce business.

Multiple attempts to reach Curry for comment were unsuccessful.

Matt Simmons, the star of Animal Planet's docuseries "Wolves and Warriors" got busted for allegedly hoarding a massive cache of guns and ammo ... a big no-no for convicted felons.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Ventura County Sheriff's deputies served a search warrant Monday at Simmon's home for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. We're told cops detained Simmons as he drove away from his residence, and deputies found a loaded .45 caliber handgun in his car and more guns and ammo in his home.

Our sources say deputies discovered 14 firearms inside Simmons' residence, including assault rifles, a sawed-off shotgun and thousands of rounds of ammo.

We're told Simmons is a convicted felon, meaning he's prohibited from owning or possessing any firearms or ammo.

Our sources say Simmons was arrested on a slew of charges ... including felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, possession of an assault weapon, carrying a concealed firearm within a vehicle, carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle, unlawful transfer of a firearm, and possession of substance, material, or any combination with intent to make any destructive device/explosive.

We're told Narcotics and Gangs Units assisted Ventura County Sheriffs in serving the warrant, as well as California State Parks.