Andy Cohen and Melissa Gorga’s summer will be as dramatic as an episode of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
The duo is set to face off against Gorga’s ex-business partner, Jackie Beard Robinson, in a trial worth $30 million this August, according to Southern Florida District Court documents obtained by Page Six on Wednesday.
Page Six first reported that Beard Robinson filed the $30 million suit for defamation and infliction of emotional distress earlier this month. Robinson claimed in her suit that Gorga, 38, and Cohen, 49, made her look like a “felon” on TV after she severed her relationship with Gorga and their boutique, Envy.
A U.S. District Court judge will hear their arguments “during the two-week trial period commencing August 6, 2018,” the documents read. Robinson has until January 15, 2018 to add any additional parties to her suit and change her suit.
A discovery plan is due in court within two weeks of Cohen or Gorga’s first appearance, but all evidence must be completed by May 14.
The case can still be settled out of court.
The women first met in spring 2014, and opened the Montclair, N.J., store together in August 2015. The duo made Robinson the manager of the shop, Envy by Melissa Gorga, in October 2015, but their business relationship was severed by Dec. 31, 2016, according to the suit. Robinson claimed she went to Envy to remove her belongings in “broad daylight” on Jan. 1, 2017 after she learned that Gorga allegedly “misappropriated over $37,000 from Envy without authorization,” but said that Gorga falsely claimed on Bravo that Robinson “snuck into Envy in the middle of the night and stole clothing.”
The claims were repeated on “Watch What Happens Live” when Cohen asked Gorga: “Wow, so, that lady wound up kinda ripping you off?” the suit read. Gorga responded, “Yes.”
Robinson’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, told us, “Jackie is very pleased that this serious case of defamation will move swiftly to trial and she is confident of ultimate success!”
A Bravo spokesperson told us that “this lawsuit has no merit.”
A rep for Gorga didn’t return our request for comment.
