The Kardashians have secured another legal win.
According to Forbes, sisters Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian have won a multi-million lawsuit against Haven Beauty and its subsidiary Hillair Capital Management— the former of which licensed the family’s now-defunct beauty brand. The Kardashians reportedly launched the company, initially called Khroma Beauty, in 2012 in partnership with Boldface Licensing + Branding. Hillair Capital purchased Boldface just two years later and assumed the rights to the Kardashians’ beauty line, which included everything from faux lashes and curling irons to shampoo and makeup.
Under the five-year deal, the Kardashians had agreed to lend the company their names and likeness in exchange for a $1 million advance in addition to royalty fees. But by 2016, the celebrity family claimed Hillair Capital had not held up their end of the deal, and they were stiffed on royalties. The licensing firm, however, accused the family of failing to fulfill their contractual obligations, as they “stopped marketing, promoting and supporting the line, and began courting new potential investors to buy out Hillair’s stake,” The Fashion Law reports.
Hillair went on to file a lawsuit against the Kardashians, seeking $180 million in damages. The Kardashians’ legal team dismissed the suit as “an obvious attempt to create leverage by hedge fund operators, who took over the Kardashians’ cosmetics brand.” The family filed a countersuit, claiming they were not properly compensated for products sold in their name.
In 2019, a California court sided with the Kardashians and awarded them nearly $11.5 million in damages. The licensor filed an appeal shortly after, claiming the court had mishandled the case in several ways. On June 6 of this year, another judge upheld the court’s initial decision, and determined the Kardashians were owed $11.5 million in royalties in addition to $2 million in post-judgement interest and appeals cost.
