The man behind the meme. Lala Kent‘s attorney Darrell Miller is now part of a catchphrase, but his main focus is still the law — and he has some thoughts on Raquel Leviss‘ legal notices to her Vanderpump Rules castmates.
“I don’t think it was personally directed at Lala as much as it was directed at a group of people, and that was kind of the other mistake — you’re gonna tell the world what not to do,” Miller exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, March 16. “Sometimes somebody in the world’s gonna speak back, and that’s exactly what he got. … It was very personal and very random.”
Earlier this month, Leviss, 28, reportedly sent her costars legal notices warning them not to share a video of her and Tom Sandoval that she claimed was illegally recorded amid their affair. The notice itself became a footnote, however, when Kent, 32, blasted the former pageant queen for sending the message to her personal account rather than to her legal counsel.
“Raquel, tell your little Mickey Mouse lawyer that if he has stuff to send over, he can send things to my lawyer, same with the rest of my friends and cast, alright?” the Give Them Lala author said in an Instagram Story. “I don’t know if you know how this works, you’re pretty brand new to the game. … Send it to Darrell!”
Leviss later filed an order of protection against Scheana Shay, claiming that the “Good as Gold” songstress, 37, got physical with her after a taping of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen earlier this month. Shay denied Leviss’ allegations in a statement to Us through her lawyer, Neama Rahmani, calling the case “a fabrication by a known liar and a cheat who has betrayed everyone close to her.”
A hearing is scheduled for March 29 to determine whether the temporary order will be made permanent, but in the meantime, the Pump Rules cast is supposed to reconvene to film the season 10 reunion. The terms of the restraining order mean that Leviss and Shay can’t come within 100 yards of each other, and they can’t communicate via Zoom either.
While the restraining order could pose a problem for the reunion taping, Miller doesn’t think Leviss could feasibly request orders of protection against any other cast members.
“Generally, the standard is you just don’t get them like you go to the store and buy a new charger,” he told Us. “It really has to have specific standards. In many cases a judge has to order or grant that based on good cause, and that usually comes from declarations with specifics and certain kinds of harm that have either been threatened or proven.”
Kent and other Pump Rules stars haven’t been shy about their thoughts on Leviss, but according to Miller, their comments aren’t enough to merit further orders of protection unless they contain actual threats.
“It would just seem very, very, very implausible that a case can be made against an entire cast,” Miller explained. “‘They’re all talking about me, therefore I want to restrain.’ No, you typically have to show some kind of real, direct harm or direct conduct, or something toward an individual that rises to the level of a court deeming that person worthy of being restrained.”
While Bravo hammers out the logistics of the reunion, Miller is just happy that he could have “a good laugh” with Kent over his viral fame. “It is incredibly surreal,” he told Us. “I have a 12-year-old who wants four sweatshirts for her and her friends. That’s when I knew it really became real.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
