Alexandra Trent, the woman who acted as a surrogate for Jeff Lewis and Edward Gage’s daughter Monroe, has dropped her lawsuit.
After Trent waved the white flag, I investigated to see who paid Trent off. Short answer? Bravo/NBCu.
How Did The Payoff Happen?
Bravo’s legal term provided Trent’s counsel with a copy of her appearance release. The surrogate signed the standard release for a non-paid appearance on a Bravo show. Most people who sign these have never read them. I doubt she did either. There is a clause regarding defamation. It states that Bravo has the right to defame the signatory in perpetuity with little recourse.
Even If Trent Moved To Jupiter, Bravo Still Owns Her Childbirth Scenes
The actual verbiage of the appearance release is kind of hysterical in its overkill. Bravo (actually the production company, Endemol) reserves the rights to use footage “by any means and in any medium now known or hereafter devised in all languages throughout the universe in perpetuity.” It doesn’t say, “and her vagina too” but it seems to be implied. Is all that really necessary? They also have the rights to allow other people to use it. And this is the release for unpaid people! That is not an Endemol release, it’s from another production company that films for Bravo, but they are all essentially the same. Doesn’t Endemol sound like some sort of prescription medication for diarrhea? Or maybe nausea? I’m serious. Isn’t there a medication by that name?
Basically, these sorts of cases are legally bound to settlement via arbitration. The private arbitration is their only form of recourse. This system strongly favors Bravo/NBCu. Is that fair? Nope. But it is legal. And contracts don’t have to be fair.
The thing is, Trent had a judge who was willing to hear the case. The judge also denied a motion by Jeff Lewis and Edward Gage’s attorney that asked for the case to be sealed. Those are two actions that seemed to benefit Trent in her case moving forward.
Also, in my opinion, there is defamation, and then there is filming a woman’s vagina without her consent. This was the primary argument in her lawsuit. Trent claims that she was unaware that cameras were filming her vagina as she was giving birth. She was also unaware that there was any intention to use any birthing footage for any use other than private use by the parents.
Here Is A Reminder of the Vile Behavior By Both Jeff Lewis and Gage Edward Before and During Monroe’s Birth
In addition, it would be beyond the scope of all rational expectations that a father of the baby being born would be saying insulting things about the vagina that is delivering his child. This is not something that a person could be expected to reasonably anticipate while signing a document that signatories generally have no opportunity to read. Would that be a viable argument in a court of law? We will never know.
Jeff Lewis and Gage Edward also had attorneys show documents to the surrogate. Trent was shown the nondisclosure agreement with Jeff Lewis’s loan-out corporation. I presume that she had some sort of counsel look over that document. However, by all accounts even that meeting was rushed. Those attorneys informed Trent that agreement covers her during the trial. In other words, she was told that she could not testify to anything covered by the NDA. I do not believe that to be true. I believe that testimony could be given in camera. If so, the testimony would been excluded from the public record just as Jeff Lewis desired. But that is just my opinion as a fake Internet attorney. 🙂
So What Did She Get To Drop The Case?
Short answer? Almost nothing. Or less than nothing. Tamara Tattles sources exclusively report the pay out was in the ballpark of $10k. That probably won’t even cover her legal fees. I was shocked at that figure as Bravo has a reputation of paying for things to go away. Allegedly. So the streets say. Jeff Lewis didn’t pay a dime. That doesn’t surprise me.
In Other Jeff Lewis News, He Still Sucks At Relationships
As I was working on this post today (legal posts take forever), people were updating me on Jeff’s radio show. Jeff had been on three whole dates (one apparently overnightish) with a chiropractor who had asked that he not discuss their relationship on his radio show.
So of course Jeff discussed their relationship on his radio show. He literally said he agreed not to, but did it anyway because the guy doesn’t listen to his show. Apparently, the guy does read People and found out about it via one of their articles. Jeff said, “I’ve got some bad news for everybody. The chiropractor dumped me last night. I tried really hard to put that back together, but it [the argument] just kept going on and on and on. But I apologized and I was accountable.”
I don’t think Jeff Lewis knows what being accountable means. He still hasn’t learned that an apology doesn’t have to be accepted. Sometimes, an apology is not enough. Just ask Alexandria Trent.
Typically arrogant of Jeff Lewis regarding not just one, but Two, requests (and expectations) for privacy.
His narcissistic entitlement disgusts me.
It’s Jeff’s world and he’s our dictator.
I never disagree with my (truly) favorite and IMO best, most clever and insightful author, however, in this case I think Ms Trent was incorrect in her lawsuit. I don’t think she was defamed in the first place. Annoyed maybe, but not defamed, for which a legal standard exists. I think Jeff made some lame jokes (mostly after the birth, not during) and I truly doubt she thought NO footage would be used. She clearly should have used a better lawyer before she signed her release, since she knew (presumably) that Jeff had a reality show and often made wild/crazy comments and laid his life bare. I’m sorry she felt hurt. An apology WAS all she was owed. The law is a specific thing. She isn’t owed anything else. Don’t sign things you don’t understand. As a surrogate I would think she should already know that. Jeff is a jerk and weirdo at times, but he (nor BRAVO) was guilty of defamation.
Fun fact – Endemol is named after the two Dutch guys who started it, Joop van de Ende and John de Mol. Yeah I know a lot of worthless info! I hope they at least settled her legal fees for her with that meager payout.
Jeff Lewis is a nasty man. The way he spoke about the surrogate was disgraceful and so disrespectful to the woman who carefully carried his baby. I wish she had a bigger payout and he had to pay.
The chiropractor has made a lucky and early escape. Jeff Lewis cannot keep his mouth shut, if he kept it private, he wouldn’t have anything interesting to talk about. I hope Gage is doing well, I imagine his self confidence will take years to recover.
Tamara thanks for the update and FYI the stomach/diarrhea medicine is Emetrol. You are correct it does sound a lot like the other name. Keep up your hard week. Love your recaps
Thank you. I thought maybe was losing it.
Love love your recaps. Honest, witty as heck. And you give the whole story.
Emetrol-otc nausea medication!
Here is my take. I’ve not had the time to catch up on his radio show, to be honest.
I have an extremely difficult time believing that the surrogate and the doctor plus nurses did not believe the birth was being filmed. I don’t believe that the crew would know exactly what room she would be in and would have the access or ability to set up the equipment before she was given that room in a manner that would keep it completely hidden during labor and delivery.
Also, I felt that the inappropriate comments (and I agree that they were inappropriate) were directed more at Gage and his gold star gay status, and his shock at Monroe arriving through the birth canal. Birth is messy. We’re taught that the vagina is embarrassing. She also waited a year or so to bitch (I do not believe she never watched the episode.
Gage and Jeff both said, when the lawsuit news broke, that they and the production company went over the top in the releases. As in, “you know this entire process is going to be filmed and put on TV, right?” I got the impression that some candidates noped out.
It’s too bad he now has to share custody with Gage since Gage already has found someone new. This is really sad considering this little girl is only two years old and they never married. Jeff and Ryan were great together and he seemed more stable back then when they worked in the same field. He doesn’t seem to be making alot of progress with this therapist who he has been seeing on and off for some years. He needs to find someone who will not enable him and get him some grief therapy and meds.
I think Jeff is going to have the devil of a time finding anyone to stay with him. He’s arrogant, without boundaries, and purposely cruel at times. I think it’s disgusting the way he used the breakup with Gage in an attempt to make himself look better and it seems as though, every day, we hear something new and even more inappropriate from him. I’m beyond sick of him. I knew something was wrong when he had the big disagreement with Jenny. She had been the voice of reason for him for so long, and it was obvious something pretty egregious had to have happened for her to break off such a long friendship. He has turned into a very unlikable person, and I think he’ll have to do a 180 degree change in his behavior to win back a lot of his ex fans. That makes me a little sad since I used to enjoy his show very much when it first started.
I agree!
Well they say there’s a lid for every pot. I’m sure some star struck young twink will be happy to fill Gage’s shoes although how long it lasts may be dependent on Jeff ability to keep a lid his nasty mouth and how much he’ll give the little man for allowance.
According to what TT wrote above, she didn’t say she was unaware it was being filmed; she said she didn’t know/believe they would show her vagina and the actual birth on TV. She believed those more personal scenes would be only for private use between the parents/family. I can understand thinking that. It’s unfortunate but it sounds like she was very trusting, didn’t have good legal advice or read the contracts carefully. I’ve made more mistakes with contracts because I was trusting. People often take a year or more when filing suit-it’s a lot more common then people filing suit the next month. It’s a long process.
Fwiw –TT- you’re still my favorite fake internet attorney! I just paid another $5k (yikes) to my divorce attorney this month and I don’t even like her.
I COULDA HANDLED THE CASE! LOL.