Kendall Jenner sued for $1.8 million over alleged breach of modeling contract
Italian fashion designer claims Jenner failed to perform a second photoshoot amid the coronavirus pandemic
Top model Kendall Jenner has been sued by Italian fashion house Liu Jo for an alleged breach of contract.
According to legal documents obtained by Fox Business, Liu Jo has sued the 25-year-old model, Elite World Group, LLC, and The Society Model Mangement, Inc. for $1.8 million.
In a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York on Monday, Liu Jo seeks the recovery of damages from Jenner, who the fashion house claims skipped out on a modeling agreement signed back in 2019.
Liu Jo claims the contract stated Jenner would star in two photoshoots for the Italian fashion company. The first was intended for its spring/summer 2020 campaign and the second was intended for the company's fall/winter 2020 campaign.
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Per the docs, the fashion designer agreed to pay Jenner $1.5 million and a 20% service fee for her work. Liu Jo claims Jenner traveled to Europe to shoot the first campaign, but the second photoshoot did not take place "due to the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic and related travel restrictions."
Kendall Jenner, left, photographed with her younger sister Kylie Jenner, right, was sued for allegedly breaching a modeling contract with Italian fashion house Liu Jo. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Business of Fashion)
Liu Jo claims it offered to reschedule Jenner's second shoot to take place in the fall of 2020.
"Liu Jo proposed multiple alternative dates and locations to Ms. Jenner for the second photoshoot to occur. Ms. Jenner repeatedly failed to provide Liu Jo with definitive responses to Liu Jo's proposals, proposed no reasonable alternatives, and ultimately turned down all of Liu Jo's good-faith offers of compromise," the legal docs claim.
Jenner and the fashion house settled on a Sept. 28, 2020 date for the second shoot, but Jenner "reneged" and "instead proposed that the photoshoot take place in October," the fashion house furthers in the complaint.
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A spokesperson for The Society Management denied the claims in a statement to Fox Business on Thursday.
"This suit is without merit. The Society Management, on behalf of Ms. Kendall Jenner, has continually offered Liu Jo alternative dates and locations to fulfill an agreement that was forced to be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Jenner has willingly offered to complete services honoring her commitments," it reads.
Liu Jo also accuses Jenner of contradicting her claims that it would be "impossible" to travel to Italy in September 2020 for the second photoshoot by allegedly doing so for a different designer that same month
Ultimately, Liu Jo claims "multiple efforts" to assist Jenner in traveling to Italy "garnered no response" from the model, thus leading the fashion agency to inform her she was in breach of her obligations, docs state.
Liu Jo is seeking ‘no less than’ $1.8 million in damages, court docs obtained by Fox Business state. (Getty Images)
"Due to Ms. Jenner's refusal to negotiate in good faith, Liu Jo was forced to find replacement models and restructure its entire Spring/Summer 2021 photoshoot – at great expense to Liu Jo – due to Ms. Jenner's refusal to uphold her end of the bargain," the complaint claims.
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Liu Jo is now asking that the first two payments made to Jenner be "promptly refunded." To date, the designer claims to have paid Jenner $1.35 million for her services, including the second photoshoot it claims she did not attend.
"Ms. Jenner has breached the Agreement by failing to meet her obligations under the Agreement and no payments have as yet, been refunded to Liu Jo by Ms. Jenner," the docs continue.
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Liu Jo is seeking "no less than" $1.8 million in damages. Reps for Jenner did not immediately return Fox Business' requests for comment.
Jenner is known as one of the world's most top-paid models. She rose to fame on her family's former hit E! reality series "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" before launching her modeling career. Most recently, she launched her own tequila brand, 818 Tequila.