Legal

Ron White is an incredibly successful comedian, and even he is feeling the disastrous fallout from the coronavirus pandemic ... so much so, he's telling a judge he can't afford to pay his ex-wife spousal support.

Ron filed legal docs asking the family law judge to terminate his $25,000 payments he's been ordered to plunk down every month.

White was married to Margo Rey from 2013 to 2017.

Ron, who's been paying Margo $25k a month since last November, says enough is enough, writing, "... she continued her decades-long pursuit of being a professional singer at which she is not self-supporting. I have spent 200+ days per year traveling the country every year to do stand-up shows, and I made more than $200,000 per month doing it."

Ron goes on ...  "Now I cannot work. I have a tenth-grade education. I am 63. Margo still insists I pay her $25,000 per month. I have employees depending on me for wages and benefits. I do not even have $25,000 per month of income."

Ron then goes on to ask the judge to terminate his spousal support obligations.

Ron submitted a breakdown of his income and expenses, and the virus has created a bleak situation for him.  His total expenses are more than $433,000, and his net operating income is just over $300,000.  But he says since the virus, his income is zero.

Don't mess with Pablo Escobar ... or the late drug lord's family, which is accusing a former exec of hijacking the Escobar YouTube channel, and trying to extort them.

Escobar Inc. is suing Daniel Reitberg, a former chief operating officer of the company, claiming the guy siphoned money out of the Escobars and is now holding their YouTube channel hostage.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, the company claims Reitberg quit last month, but not before raiding the corporate accounts and changing the password to the company's YouTube channel ... cutting off their access.

The company -- which once wanted to partner up with a famous L.A. "gringo" -- claims Reitberg set up corporate bank accounts for the purpose of collecting payments for Escobar merch sold on the YouTube channel ... which it says has generated more than $1 million in sales.

Escobar Inc. also claims Reitberg has made off with thousands of dollars and refuses to surrender the channel. They claim he's holding it ransom ... as a means to extort significant sums of money from the company. The company claims it has tried but failed to reason with him.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is getting super close to releasing new music ... because he's begging the judge to let him shoot music videos in his own backyard.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Tekashi's legal team is asking Judge Engelmayer to allow the rapper to spend up to 2 hours in his backyard once a week to work on music videos.

As we first told you ... Judge Engelmayer released Tekashi from prison early following 69's plea to get out to avoid being infected with the novel coronavirus. He's now serving out his time on in-home incarceration.

In the docs, Tekashi's lawyers say his probation officer is aware of the request and has no objection ... so 69 just needs the judge's stamp of approval too.

Remember ... Tekashi scored a lucrative record deal back in October, and now it sounds like new music is dropping soon,

It doesn't happen often, but Kawhi Leonard has been defeated -- the NBA superstar just lost his copyright battle with Nike over the "Klaw" logo.

Remember, the LA Clippers guard -- a Nike athlete from 2011-2018 -- claimed he got a cease and desist in 2018 from Swoosh execs who said they owned the copyright to his "Claw Design" ... forbidding Leonard from using it elsewhere.

In his lawsuit, filed in the heart of the 2019 NBA playoffs, Kawhi claimed he came up with the design in college back in 2011 ... and since he created the logo, he should have the rights to it.

But, a judge just blocked Leonard's attempt on Wednesday ... ruling Nike's design is an "independent piece of intellectual property" put together by its team of designers and it is distinct from Leonard's early sketch of the idea ... meaning, KL doesn't own it. So, the judge dismissed KL's complaint.

Leonard's attorney Peter Ginsberg addressed the outcome on Wednesday, saying "Kawhi put his heart and soul into that design so we are obviously disappointed the judge ruled the logo belongs to Nike and not Kawhi," according to The Oregonian.

Maitland Ward's encounter with an actress is coming back to bite her in the butt ... because she's being sued over the filming of those steamy scenes.

A reality TV and adult entertainment actress, along with a videographer/editor, are suing the former "Boy Meets World" actress turned porn star claiming she screwed them out of more than $270,000 they claim they rightfully earned.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, the actress and videographer claim they started working together in July 2017, and all went fine and dandy. So good, in fact, Maitland allegedly started hooking up with the actress off-screen. But, according to the lawsuit, that relationship went south ... and so did a deal they say they cut with Maitland around September 2018 that was supposed to land them a hefty payday.

In docs, the actress and videographer claim Ward and her lawyer got a hold of the money they were all supposed to split, but instead of getting paid they got strung along with bad checks and broken promises. The actress and videographer are now suing for the money they claim they're owed -- $180K for the actress and $90K for the videographer -- plus other damages.

We've reached out to Maitland, so far no word back.

A co-creator of 'The Walking Dead' claims folks at a video game company are stiffing him on a deal -- and now, he wants a judge to pry the money out of their lifeless corpses.

Famed comic book writer Robert Kirkman's company, RK LLC, just filed suit against Disruptor Beam Inc., which he says developed and released 'Walking Dead: March to War' in 2017 ... after he struck a 2014 deal with the company.

RK says he's owed upwards of $690,000 off that deal, but alleges Disruptor stopped making payments.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Kirkman's company says the OG terms they came to with DBI were annual payments of $500k, which would run for four years after the release of the game. It came out in August 2017.

Kirkman and co. claim the video game company made payments -- sometimes late, but they came -- until this month, when the company allegedly told him it was stopping payments "until further notice."

Kirkman claims this left a $190k balance for the rest of this year plus another $500K for next year.

Kirkman's company now wants a judge to step in and force 'em to pay up at least $690K in damages.

Pepa doesn't want to talk about sex right now ... she's furious at Uber and a bunch of drivers who she claims wrecked her earnings potential.

Sandra Denton -- aka Pepa from Salt-N-Pepa -- is suing the ride-share service along with one of its drivers and the drivers of 3 other vehicles, claiming a 2018 chain-reaction car crash left her with injuries, pain, and loss of wages.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Pepa claims the crash on L.A.'s 101 freeway was triggered after the Uber driver and other drivers "operated their vehicle negligently and carelessly."

Pep's suing for damages including loss of wages. Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... the rapper was in an Uber that was involved in an accident. Cops say another Uber driver was following too closely behind, couldn't stop in time ... and hit another ride, causing a chain reaction.

We're told Pepa complained of neck and knee pain, for which she later needed medical attention. As a result of the accident, sources say the Grammy winner still suffers intense pain that interferes with her performances and travel, often making herself sick during and after stage performances.

We've reached out to Uber, so far no word back.

NFL quarterback Brett Hundley is being sued by his ex-wife -- who claims he repeatedly attacked her before and during their marriage.

Here's the deal ... the woman behind the suit is using the alias "Jane Doe" but identifies herself as Hundley's former wife.

She claims they were married in July 2016 after dating at UCLA.

But, according to the suit, the woman says Hundley -- who currently plays for the Arizona Cardinals -- got violent with her BEFORE they swapped "I Dos" and continued the attacks into 2017.

Here are the allegations ...

-- In January 2016, the woman claims Hundley choked her and threw her around their bedroom during a heated argument ... only letting up when she told him, "I can't breathe."

The woman claims she suffered mental trauma and a broken ankle -- but the lawsuit does NOT say if she ever went to police.

-- In December 2016, the woman claims they had another argument where he pushed her through an open garage door. She claims she suffered a back injury.

-- In March 2017, she claims Hundley charged at her during an argument and threw her onto a pool table and repeatedly shoved her against it.

In this case, the accuser claims two men overheard the incident and called police.

We have reached out to cops to find out if the incident was investigated -- but so far, we have not heard back.

The woman also claims Hundley gave her an STD during their marriage -- the result of alleged extramarital sexual activity.

In her lawsuit, the woman claims she finally filed to divorce Hundley in 2018. Court records show both parties have been declared single by a judge, but they are still sorting out property issues.

The accuser is suing for battery, domestic violence, emotional distress and negligence ... but the problem she might face is the typical statute of limitations for her causes of action are between 2 and 3 years, and the most recent allegation of abuse in the lawsuit falls OUTSIDE of that window.

Of course, there are legal exceptions. We reached out to the accuser's attorney for clarification -- but haven't heard back.

We also reached out to Hundley's reps for comment -- but radio silence on that end, too.

Hundley was a stud QB at UCLA before being drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 5th round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

In his 4-year NFL career, he's been a backup for Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and, most recently, Kyler Murray in Arizona.

Chipotle may need to start charging even more for guac -- the company is paying the largest fine EVER in a food safety case stemming from more than a thousand instances of food poisoning.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday, Chipotle's been ordered to pay a whopping $25 million fine to settle criminal charges over foodborne illness outbreaks at its restaurants.

You'll recall, more than 1,100 people across the U.S. claimed they got sick from Chipotle restaurants between 2015 and 2018. The feds charged Chipotle with 2 counts of violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for selling tainted food.

According to the DOJ, Chipotle admitted to more than several instances that resulted in outbreaks. For example, in December 2015 an ill employee in Boston was ordered to continue working after vomiting inside the restaurant -- a clear violation of company policy.

The feds say 2 days later, the employee returned to work and helped package a catering order for a Boston College basketball team, whose members were among customers sickened by the outbreak.

Chipotle was also accused of failing to hold food at appropriate temperatures to prevent and control the growth of foodborne pathogens.

Aside from the 8-figure fine, the company also has to be under a food safety compliance program for 3 years.

Lamar Jackson is revealing why he decided to take truss and throw some Z's on it -- claiming someone threatened to SUE him over the Ravens' catchphrase!!

TMZ Sports broke the story ... LJ recently filed an application to trademark the term, Truzz, right around the time he got the word tatted across his chest.

Weird move, considering Lamar's Baltimore Ravens teammate, Mark Ingram, had been using the phrase "Big Truss" to reference LJ throughout the 2019 NFL season. Woo Woo!

But, just as we thought, the switch to "Z's" was all about business -- as Lamar explained Tuesday during a video Q&A with fans.

"Someone tried to sue me for Truss," Jackson said ... "So, I changed my S's to Z's."

Lamar claims the person who holds the Truss trademark tried to "make a big deal" out of the situation ... and it was just easier to make the switch to ZZ instead.

Smart!

There's more -- Lamar also shared some major news ... he's officially been selected as the cover athlete for the Madden NFL 21 video game!!!