Credit: MICHAEL SIMON/startraksphoto.com/Cover Images
Scheana Shay was “serve[d]” papers with “no legal “meaning” from Andy Cohen on Raquel Leviss’ behalf at the Vanderpump Rules reunion, according to Scheana’s attorney.
The 28-year-old was reportedly granted a temporary restraining order against Scheana, who allegedly assaulted Raquel over her affair with Tom Sandoval during his relationship with Ariana Madix. According to certain reports, Raquel claimed Scheana punched her in the face, and a March 29 court date will determine if the restraining order remains permanent. The lawyer also indicated how they’ll combat the assault allegations if the case goes to trial.
“Rachel had Andy ‘serve’ Scheana with a document during the reunion, but the papers have no legal meaning,” revealed Scheana’s attorney, Naema Rahmani, referring to Raquel’s legal name in an interview with Page Six.
“It was a request to dismiss a complaint or a civil lawsuit, but Rachel had requested a permanent restraining order, which is something completely different.”
The attorney went on, “There is no way for Rachel to ‘drop’ the temporary restraining order before next week’s hearing. This is California law and even on the court’s website.”
While Naema said Raquel had Andy “serve” her co-star, an insider told the outlet he just handed over a printed document, which Raquel intended to file.
Naema explained that Raquel’s document “wasn’t filed with the court,” and there was “no file stamp in the top right corner” to make it official.
“This was just another public relations stunt by Rachel and her team,” said the attorney. “If Rachel really wanted to make this go away, she would come out and publicly say the ‘punch’ never happened and she is sorry for all the harm she caused Scheana, Ariana, and her other friends.”
On the morning of the taping, Naema confirmed that Scheana would physically attend the reunion. “Scheana will be present at today’s filming in person. Scheana intends to follow the law, but she wants to be part of the reunion,” said the lawyer. “Scheana and ‘Vanderpump Rules’ will make sure that Scheana remains 100 yards away to comply with the restraining order.”
Naema went on to say there’s “no real way” for her temporary restraining order to be dismissed and will stay active until the court hearing – which is set for March 29.
“It will just lapse if Rachel doesn’t pursue it,” said the attorney. “And if Rachel does pursue it, Scheana intends to call witnesses and present evidence to disprove her false accusations.”
In a separate interview for Us Weekly, Naema indicated their plan on refuting the assault allegations if the case indeed goes to trial.
“If it happens, we’re certainly going to present evidence in our argument that those discolorations predated this alleged assault,” said Naema. “I mean, they’ve been there for months, so we intend to put in evidence that Raquel’s alleged black eyes weren’t really black eyes at all.”
“Scheana fully intends to oppose it and she intends to win,” added Naema, who said “a lot may happen” in the days before the court date. “It’s really up to Raquel if she intends to move forward next week. If she does, Scheana will defend herself, and she’s going to call witnesses and they’re going to testify, and Raquel’s going to have to testify. So, it’s essentially a minitrial. So, we’re gonna have live witness testimony, whether it’s on March 29 or some later date.”
Vanderpump Rules season 10 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.