Real Housewife of NYC is being sued over jewelry line

Kelly Killoren Bensimon of the Bravo reality show the Real Housewives of NYC is having a rough spring. First, she gets arrested for beating up her boyfriend, giving him a black eye and a split cheek. Then she  loses her modeling job with Saks, and  is suddenly desperate to sell her house in the Hamptons. And now she’s being sued over an owl.

According to sources, Bensimon is being sued by a friend and former Elle magazine c0-worker over an owl pendant that they were supposed to produce together and split the profits. 

Celeste Greenberg says that she and the reality show star had an oral agreement to work together on the owl project, but Ms. Bensimon took the idea and used it for her own jewelry line instead.

According to Page Six, Bensimon’s rep says that Greenberg’s accusations are without merit:

 “This girl used to work at Elle Accessories with Kelly. Kelly went out of her way to book her for freelance gigs. They went their separate ways. Now she’s coming after her because she needs money and Kelly’s name is in the press. There’s no validity to this. They never had an agreement about anything.”

Reality television labor lawsuits settled

From Reuters:

Several major U.S. TV networks and the producers of such reality shows as “Trading Spouses” and “The Bachelor” have agreed to pay over $4 million to settle two lawsuits claiming violations of California wage rules.

The settlement will benefit more than 400 workers who were part of the 3-year-old class-action cases, and some of those individuals stand to reap tens of thousands of dollars, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Emma Leheny, said on Wednesday.

The litigation coincided with a broader ongoing effort by the Writers Guild of America to obtain a labor contract for the creative workers behind unscripted TV productions as a whole, such as “American Idol” and “Survivor.”

Some of those programs rank among the biggest hits on U.S. television and are far cheaper to produce than traditional prime-time dramas and sitcoms.

The suits claimed reality show employees routinely put in as much as 80 hours a week without overtime, were denied work breaks for meals and were forced to falsify their time cards, all in violation of state wage and hour laws.

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