Kris Jenner and her former bodyguard have been granted 13 months to resolve his sexual harassment case against her.
The “Kardashians” star was accused of groping Marc McWilliams and also making racist and homophobic remarks during his term of employment (which lasted from 2017 to 2019) in September 2020. After they failed to settle the case through private arbitration, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Armen Tamzarian has now granted an extension.
They now have until 14 February 2024 to hammer out the details, and the judge warned the pair he expects "arbitration to be done by then."
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At a status hearing on Friday, which neither Jenner nor her former employee were present for, the frustrated judge asked the lawyers for both sides: "This is taking a very long time. What's going on?"
According to DailyMail.com, McWilliams' attorney, Sean Novak, explained a private judge had been selected to oversee the case in proceedings scheduled for December this year, but the showbiz matriarch's legal representative, Michelle Doolin, disputed whether it had been scheduled, prompting the judge to set the new hearing date.
McWilliams previously claimed he had been wrongfully dismissed from his job and accused the 65-year-old momager of having made comments to him of a "sexual nature", referenced his physicality and asked about his "sexual activities", as well as instigating "intimate physical contact".
The original filing stated: "Between May, 2017 and September 12, 2018 defendant Jenner began repeatedly and frequently causing her body to come into intimate physical contact with the body of [McWilliams] and making overt comments of sexual nature to [McWilliams] on a repeated basis."
However, Jenner insisted the claims made by the security guard - who also alleged he was fired after complaining about shortened hours and no meal breaks to the company who had contracted him - are completely false.
Her lawyer, Marty Singer, said: "His absurd allegations are clearly fabricated and are contrary to easily confirmed facts. Kris never acted inappropriately toward him.
"The security company stopped assigning McWilliams to work there after the guard was repeatedly caught sleeping in his car on the job.
“Significantly, McWilliams never made any complaints to his employer about Kris until contriving this ludicrous claim a year later."