Legal

Four months after James Franco settled his sexual misconduct lawsuit we're now learning the financial terms of the settlement ... and it cost him a couple million.

The amount was revealed in court docs made public Wednesday ... and it shows Franco, his production company Rabbit Bandini Productions, the film school he founded, Studio 4, and others will shell out $2,235,000 to settle the suit. A judge still needs to sign off on it.

If the settlement gets the green light ... 2 of Franco's former students -- Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, who filed the class-action suit in October 2020 at the height of the #MeToo movement -- will get $670,500 and $223,500, respectively ... but will have to hand over a chunk of that to their attorneys.

The other students who joined the lawsuit will get a cut of the remaining $1.341 million ... again, less due to attorneys' fees and costs.

As we previously reported ... Franco, who opened the school in 2014 and has since been shut down, was accused by students of putting them in gratuitous and exploitative sexual situations.

The students claimed Franco pushed them into performing intimate and explicit sex scenes in an "orgy type setting" ... something they say went way beyond the pale of shooting such scenes.

Two of Bill Cosby's accusers are afraid he didn't learn any lessons in prison ... with his conviction overturned and release in the works, they still think he is dangerous.

Sammie Mays, who claims Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, tells TMZ ... his release is "disrespectful and despicable" for Andrea Constand -- the accuser in his trial.

Mays thinks Cosby is anything but reformed after serving more than 2 years of a 10-year sentence.

Sarita Butterfield, a former Playboy model who claims Cosby groped her, echoes that sentiment -- while another accuser, Angela Leslie, tells TMZ, "I'm surprised and shocked with today's news of Cosby's release. It seems the justice system served the criminal, in this case, as opposed to the victims."

Angela continues, "At this point, I just hope that he took time to reflect on the pain and anguish his actions caused so many women. And, also puts in the work towards becoming a better person."

As we reported ... the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Wednesday Cosby's conviction had to be overturned and he couldn't be retried due to a deal Cosby had made with a former prosecutor ... who guaranteed him immunity if he gave a deposition for Constand's civil lawsuit.

As a result, Cosby is expected to walk free from prison at some point Wednesday.

Mays says she feels the ruling "shows that women do not have the respect of men." She says Cosby's release should be especially frightening for women.

Butterfield and Mays are also worried about Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell walking free too ... and Mays is planning to protest outside the prison when Cosby's released.

Former "Smallville" star Allison Mack has just shown up to court to face the music -- and by that, we mean she's about to be sentenced in her sex cult case.

Mack was bum-rushed by a crowd of photogs and reporters Wednesday as she made her into a NYC courthouse -- with several of them asking what sort of sentence she was hoping to get.

She was mum on all of that ... keeping her mask on tight and taking cover behind her team, who escorted her in amid all the chaos. Still, the questions are valid -- especially considering she recently made it clear she wants serious leniency.

Mack's judgment day comes shortly after writing a letter to address "those who have been harmed by my actions." In the letter, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Mack said, "it is now of paramount importance for me to say, from the bottom of my heart, I am sorry."

She also wrote she threw herself "into the teachings of Keith Raniere with everything" she had and "believed, whole-heartedly, that his mentorship was leading me to a better, more enlightened version of myself."

Mack -- who was with Raniere in Mexico when he got busted in 2018 -- called devoting her loyalty, resources and life to him "the biggest mistake and regret of my life."

In a memo filed in court ... Mack's attorneys had asked for no jail time given she has publicly denounced Raniere, who in October was sentenced to 120 years in prison.

As we reported ... Mack pled guilty in April 2019 to 2 counts ... racketeering conspiracy and racketeering. Prosecutors essentially alleged she was the pimp for the NXIVM sex cult that garnered headlines around the world. She faces up to 40 years behind bars ... 20 for each count.

Fetterolf continued ... "Mr. Bauer and [the accuser] have not corresponded in over a month and have not seen each other in over six weeks. Her basis for filing a protection order is nonexistent, fraudulent, and deliberately omits key facts, information, and her own relevant communications. Any allegations that the pair’s encounters were not 100% consensual are baseless, defamatory, and will be refuted to the fullest extent of the law."

MLB superstar Trevor Bauer is currently under investigation for assault ... after a woman claims the Cy Young winner got physical with her earlier this year.

But, sources close to the case say Bauer is adamant the encounter was nothing more than consensual, rough sex with someone he met online. We're told they hooked up twice.

TMZ Sports has learned the alleged victim was granted a temporary domestic violence restraining order earlier today in L.A.

Pasadena PD is investigating the alleged incident ... and sources tell us TB is cooperating with authorities.

As for the alleged victim ... her attorney, Marc Garelick, tells us his client "sought and obtained an order for Protection from the Court against Mr. Trevor Bauer, under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act."

"The order is a result of a recent assault that took place at the hands of Mr. Bauer where [the accuser] suffered severe physical and emotional pain."

The attorney continued ... saying he expects criminal charges to ultimately be filed against the MLB All-Star.

"Our goal is to keep Mr. Bauer from contacting our client in any way possible. We anticipate there will be criminal action against Mr. Bauer, and it is our hope law enforcement will take our client’s allegations and case seriously."

Our law enforcement sources say the case will likely be sent to the district attorney ... where they will decide whether to file charges.

Bauer is one of the best pitchers in baseball ... and has been solid for the Dodgers in 2021, posting an 8-5 record with a 2.59 ERA.

He previously played for the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Kyle Massey is already losing business deals after being charged for alleged sexual communication with a minor ... and the first to jump ship clearly doesn't want any of this smoke.

The vaping company Dr. Dabber has dropped Massey as an ambassador of the brand -- a partnership that was relatively new, as Kyle's been posting shots of their products (and tagging them, of course) since May.

A rep for DD tells TMZ ... "We are ending our relationship with Kyle Massey. We have been working with him on a trial basis for a month. Today, we let his team know we will be cutting ties and requested all public content with our brand to be deleted from his social media."

Looks like he received the message, because Massey's already scrubbed all his Dr. Dabber posts. Luckily, we screen-grabbed a few so you can see -- he was all in on the deal.

It's unclear what kinda dough the company was paying KM, but it's all down the toilet now. This, of course, is due to him being legally rung up for allegedly sending nudes and other explicit messages to a teen.

TMZ broke the story ... Kyle faces one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes, after a girl alleged he'd sent her numerous inappropriate messages between 2018 and 2019. She initially attempted to sue him, and just recently went to law enforcement.

Kyle had previously claimed he was being extorted, but he maintains that the allegations are motivated by revenge ... claiming it's because the accuser didn't succeed in her 2019 civil suit.

Josh Duggar's child pornography case looks like the final nail in the coffin for his family's TV show ... TLC's canceling it after 11 seasons.

The network announced it will no longer be producing "Counting On," the family reality series that's a spin-off of the popular "19 Kids and Counting" ... which ended its run back in 2015.

TMZ broke the story ... Josh -- one of the stars of '19 Kids' -- was arrested by the feds in late April and charged with 2 counts of child pornography. He's accused of knowingly receiving child porn in May 2019 and knowingly possessing images of child pornography ... including images of minors below the age of 12.

TLC makes it clear ... the case is why it's pulling the plug, saying it "feels it is important to give the Duggar family the opportunity to address their situation privately."

Addressing the case in any way on the show would have been a legal risk for Duggar ... while not addressing it would mean producers were ignoring the biggest elephant in the room.

An ex-Denny's server has beef with the famous diner and is now suing ... claiming she was canned as retaliation after she reported some of her colleagues for calling her old and racist.

Vina Dejoria filed the lawsuit in Nevada claiming she was subjected to harassment and bullying, which also included co-workers saying she came from the "dinosaur age."

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Dejoria -- who is white -- says she started working at Denny's as a server in November 2017 and was 46 when she got fired. Things appeared to start going downhill earlier this year when Dejoria claims she was called a racist for refusing to wait on tables of customers based on the color of the customers’ skin -- but she says that's not true.

In any event, Dejoria claims she reported the harassment and hostility but nothing was done by her supervisor.

Dejoria goes on to claim she was eventually suspended and then axed from her job for allegedly being the Denny's employee doing the bullying, which she believes was just retaliation for her reporting the alleged harassment from co-workers.

Now, over the last year, we've seen plenty of Denny's servers and hosts raise hell over customers who weren't wearing masks -- like this video from an Illinois Denny's -- but Dejoria's case is strictly about allegations of racism, on her part, and harassment ... on the part of her co-workers and bosses.

We've reached out to Denny's, but so far no word back.

Tyler Skaggs' widow has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Angels ... claiming the team is to blame for her husband's tragic passing in 2019.

It's all spelled out in new court docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, in which Carli Skaggs says the Angels could have prevented the pitcher's death with several simple steps ... but did not.

In the suit, Carli says it all boils down to the team's handling of Eric Kay ... the Angels team employee who was criminally charged with distributing the drugs that ultimately killed Skaggs in his hotel room while on the road for an away game in Texas on July 1, 2019.

Carli says the team knew Kay was giving Skaggs and other players drugs ... but did not do anything about it.

In fact, in the suit, Carli claims Kay was a known drug abuser ... and says despite the team being well-aware of it -- it still gave Kay "complete access to players, day and night both off the field and on the field."

"This was a fatal mistake," Carli said in the suit.

Carli claims if the team had taken steps to restrict Kay's access to players, her husband would still be alive today.

"The Angels failed Tyler," Carli said in the suit. "And because of this failure, Tyler, who was on the brink of achieving certain and substantial success as a pitcher in MLB, had his life cut short."

Carli is suing for damages.

We've reached out to the Angels, but so far, no word back yet.

Kyle Massey -- known for playing Cory Baxter on Disney shows "That's So Raven" and "Cory in the House" -- is now facing a felony for allegedly sending pornographic material to a 13-year-old girl he knew.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ ... Massey's been charged with one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes. The former Disney star's accused of electronically sending sexually explicit content to the girl during the months of December 2018 and January 2019.

We're told the case is connected to the civil suit we covered in March 2019 -- Massey was sued for $1.5 million for allegedly sending "numerous sexually explicit text messages, images, and videos" via Snapchat ... but claimed he was being extorted.

The girl's legal team initially opted for the civil suit against Massey, but according to the new docs, it went nowhere because she says her lawyers told her they didn't think Massey had enough money to make the case worth it. So, she says she then went to the Sheriff's Office to file a report.

Police say they began investigating in early 2020, and the girl's mother told cops Massey had known her since she was 4 years old.

According to the docs ... police were given a thumb drive by the girl's mother containing the explicit material Massey allegedly sent over Snap when she was 13. Cops say the series of recordings include a pornographic video clip and a video of a man who appears to be Massey exposing his penis.

Massey was scheduled to appear for his arraignment Monday in King County Criminal Court in Washington, but failed to show. We've reached out to his camp ... so far, no word back.

Christina Aguilera is lending her voice in support of Britney Spears, calling what the singer has allegedly endured "unacceptable" and urging those in control to let her live her life.

Aguilera posted a series of tweets -- along with an old photo of herself and Britney -- Monday night. Xtina started in saying, "These past few days I’ve been thinking about Britney and everything she is going through. It is unacceptable that any woman, or human, wanting to be in control of their own destiny might not be allowed to live life as they wish."

The singer then spoke to the allegations Britney made last week in claiming she was unable to get married or have children under the conservatorship, saying, "Every woman must have the right to her own body, her own reproductive system, her own privacy, her own space, her own healing and her own happiness."

Aguilera continued, "The conviction and desperation of this plea for freedom leads me to believe that this person I once knew has been living without compassion or decency from those in control."

Xtina's message of support comes nearly one week after Britney's stunning court testimony in which she told a judge she wanted out of a 13-year conservatorship without getting a mental evaluation.

In her statement Monday, Christina gave a nod to her former friendship with Britney, saying it was clear the woman she once knew has not been given the compassion she deserves.

'90 Day Fiance' star Deavan Clegg claims Jenelle Evans is spewing lies about her since their podcast project went south, and she's lawyering up to take the former 'Teen Mom' to court.

Deavan's planning to file suit against Jenelle for defamation and cyberstalking ... according to her publicist, Lindsay Feldman of BrandBomb Marketing. As for how their relationship got this nasty ... it's a bit complicated, but the gist is a few months ago they teamed up for a podcast called "Girl S#!t" -- along with Gabbie Egan, and when it didn't work out, the mudslinging began.

Deavan accused Jenelle and Gabbie of bullying and ganging up on her, and Jenelle accused Deavan of spreading lies.

It all came to a head recently though, with Jenelle posting a 44-minute video explaining her side -- but also dropping an allegation that after a weekend with Deavan, Jenelle's supply of anxiety meds for her esophagus problems turned up missing. Deavan later alleged the medication Jenelle seemingly accused her of taking was Xanax.

Deavan vehemently denies that, and it's one of the main reasons she's threatening to sue Jenelle.

While she's at it, we're told she's also considering legal action against Gabbie for allegedly violating an NDA related to the podcast.

Britney Spears is living her best life in Hawaii ... soakin' up every minute of her Maui vacay.

The singer just shared some fun videos of her Hawaiian getaway, and she looks like she's having a blast on the island. Britney's showing off her body in a skimpy red bikini, making angels in the sand and playing in the ocean.

Britney is definitely practicing aloha ... saying she likes the sounds of the waves at night and listening to people laughing from her hotel balcony. She adds, "there's a togetherness here and it's endless!!!"

As we first told you ... Britney and her boyfriend, Sam Asghari, hopped on a private plane to Maui last week in the wake of her explosive court testimony on her conservatorship, and they looked like they were having a great time right out of the gate.

Remember, Britney claimed she's been threatened to have her Maui vacations denied if she doesn't go to therapy, and she complained about feeling trapped by the conservatorship.

Britney and Sam have been all smiles since they boarded their private flight to Hawaii ... she previously posted some funny videos from their jet, playing around with filters and acting silly.

Jamie Lynn Spears is breaking her silence about her sister's conservatorship battle, saying she fully supports Britney -- and she's offended Brit's fans might be thinking otherwise.

Jamie Lynn explained why she waited a bit to speak on Britney's court hearing last week, saying she didn't feel it was her place until Britney had the chance to publicly say everything she wanted.

Now, she's voicing her support clearly, saying she's always loved, adored and supported her big sister and is only concerned about her happiness.

Jamie Lynn also seemed to distance herself from the rest of her family -- specifically those involved in Britney's conservatorship -- by saying, "I've made a very conscious choice in my life to only participate in her life as her sister."

She adds that she's always had Britney's back, despite what folks online have speculated. JL seemed to reference Brit saying she wants to sue her whole family ... when she said, "I'm not my family -- I'm my own person. I'm speaking for myself. I'm so proud of her for using her voice."

Regarding the conservatorship ... Jamie Lynn claims she encouraged Britney to hire a new counsel years ago, and says if Britney wants to end the conservatorship ... she fully supports it.

As you know, Britney made it very clear last week during her court hearing that she wants out, and also wants to take legal action against her family. She specifically railed on her father, Jamie, and her management team for alleged mistreatment, torment, abuse of power and other disturbing claims.

The day after Britney spoke publicly about her conservatorship case, she hopped on a private jet with her boyfriend, Sam Asghari, to Hawaii to get away from it all.

Kanye West's legal team has a lot more work to do if they want to rid the online market of imitation Yeezys -- while Walmart halted sales on its site, hundreds more still exist on others.

West's Yeezy Foam RNNRs have taken the market by storm, so it's no surprise copycats tried to capitalize. However, as of Friday, Walmart had removed all the knockoffs from its online store.

TMZ broke the story ... Kanye and Yeezy filed a lawsuit against the retail giant, claiming its $25 faux RNNRs had the potential to cost Ye "hundreds of millions" of dollars in sales of his $75 original design.

For its part, Walmart said the online listings were from a third party.

You'd think the lawsuit would scare away others, but we discovered hundreds of other listings on sites pushing what appear to be more wannabes. Friday, Etsy still remained a hotspot for them, with pairs running anywhere from $30-$60, one listing calls the shoes "Yeezy Inspired," but they look like exact copies.

We've reached out to Kanye's team to figure out if they have any plans to go after the remaining listings like they did Walmart. Nothing's been filed yet.

Ex-Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is getting dogged in death by a huge bill ... and it's all over a very strange unique piece of art.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Tony's estate just got hit with a $40,000 bill for the delivery and installation of a custom sculpture of a human brain at Hsieh's Park City, Utah mansion.

In the docs, a Las Vegas company claims it hauled the huge piece of art to the mountains and installed it above a ceiling fan inside Tony's crib back in July 2020 -- but the company claims Hsieh never paid. Now, they're going after his estate for the $40k, plus interest.

As we reported ... Tony was only 46 when he died in November after sustaining injuries suffered during a house fire in Connecticut.

Britney Spears was at the top of her game -- and at the top of album sales in her respective category -- before she was in a conservatorship, and even during ... which mucks up the argument of whether the apparatus was hindering her career in any real way.

Somebody posted a video of a graph over time, depicting Britney's album sales compared to her contemporaries between 1999 and 2017 ... and it's clear that she was the queen of "Diva Pop" during that run, a good chunk of which was during her court-ordered conservatorship.

Remember, Britney splashed onto the scene in the late '90s ... and was a tour de force-type artist in the early-to-mid 2000s. But, after 2008 -- around the time Britney's conservatorship was put into place -- she was STILL the reigning queen in album sales (worldwide) when stacked up against fellow singers like Shakira, Christina Aguilera, P!nk, J Lo, Gaga, Beyonce ... and eventually, the one female pop star who came along to overtake 'em all -- Adele.

BTW, we checked the numbers here ... and this video appears to be fairly accurate as far as who was on top and when -- again, relating to worldwide album sales in this respective window. Even as late as 2017, Britney was beating out the competition ... which is wild.

So ... what does this all mean??? Depends on who you ask, we suppose. On the one hand, you could argue the conservatorship hasn't really harmed her professionally -- as she was clearly very successful even after being placed in it. In fact, we've heard her father, Jamie Spears, say he actually helped whip her finances into shape again following her breakdown.

With that said, it's become obvious that Britney wants out -- she said as much this past Wednesday -- and seems to be putting her professional life on hold until she gets her way.