Tiffany Haddish scored a small victory against her ex-friend suing her for defamation — with the case being moved out of the public eye.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted a motion brought by Haddish to move Trizah Morris’ lawsuit to arbitration.
Haddish claimed Morris signed an agreement with her that stated all disputes would be heard in arbitration and not in state court.
Arbitration is a private court where the case is heard by one arbitrator who makes the final decision. The entire proceeding is private and cannot be viewed by the public.
Morris argued the agreement in question was signed under duress. She accused Haddish and her team of bullying her into signing the agreement and demanded the court throw it out.
Morris is the mother of the two adult children who sued Haddish and Spears in 2022. Her children accused Haddish of grooming them as children and having them appear in inappropriate sketches with her and Spears.
Haddish and Spears denied the accusations and blasted Morris after the lawsuit was filed.
After Morris’ children filed their lawsuit, Haaddish’s lawyer said, “Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years.”
He added, “Every attorney who has initially taken on her case — and there were several — ultimately dropped the matter once it became clear that the claims were meritless and Ms. Haddish would not be shaken down. Now, Ms. Morris has her adult daughter representing herself in this lawsuit. The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action.”
In regard to the agreement Haddish said Morris signed, Morris said she signed the deal in 2022 with her daughter.
Morris said the deal was signed because Haddish and her associates were threatening to reveal the identities of her children to the public. Morris’ children brought their lawsuit using pseudonyms.
Haddish argued that Morris’ argument was nonsense. The comedian’s powerhouse attorney, Shawn Holley, said, “Morris has come nowhere close to meeting her burden of proving the arbitration provision is invalid or unenforceable. Morris makes general unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct, without presenting any evidence of Haddish or her representatives’ involvement.”
In the end, the judge sided with Haddish and moved the case to arbitration.
