Ponies, and pigs, and puppies, oh my! Denise Richards has been entrenched in a messy legal battle with her former landlords. She and her husband, Aaron Phypers, have been accused of trashing their old Calabasas rental home. Their former landlords, Anthony Ellrod and Christopher Masterson, have been fighting in court for what feels like forever, but things have finally reached a conclusion. According to a report from Radar Online, they sued the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills power couple for $100,000 in damages, claiming that during their seven-month tenancy, the couple trashed the home and its landscaping in addition to breaching the terms of the lease by bringing two pot-bellied pigs, three dogs, and two ponies onto the property.
However, Denise and Aaron felt differently. They denied any wrongdoing, ponies, or any other foul behavior at the property. Instead, they claimed that it was already in a bad state when they started the lease. According to Denise’s counterclaim, she paid $56,000 in up-front rent and another $10,000 security deposit. When she didn’t get the security deposit back, she says that the landlords failed to give a written letter explaining why.
In court documents, Denise also called attention to a real estate mishap where the property owner tried to sell the home but had a hard time doing so. She feels like they’re just trying to get some extra cash because they had a hard time selling the house. The landlords eventually sold it in 2019 for $1.9 million. But the court documents explain, “Before the completed sale, Plaintiffs were in escrow to sell the property at a much higher price. That buyer was willing to pay the higher price in the exact condition of the property at the end of Defendants’ tenancy. Contrary to Plaintiffs’ assertions, Defendants did nothing to disrupt that sale.”
RELATED: Denise Richards Sues Ex-Landlords For Defamation After Claiming She & Husband Aaron Phypers Trashed Rental Property
The lawsuit continues to describe the circumstances surrounding the botched real estate deal. It says, “The buyer intended to operate a rehabilitation clinic and terminated escrow when the buyer learned that its intended use was impossible because another clinic was too close in proximity.”
On top of all of that drama over a lease that lasted less than a year, Page Six reported that Denise also countersued the landlords claiming they wrongly publicized her private information. As a result, she claims that the landlords caused “great mental and physical pain and discomfort, annoyance, distress, anguish, worry, anxiety, pain and suffering, and has lost wages and related benefits, past and future, all in the amount to be proven at the time of trial.”
Denise was scheduled to take the stand on December 6 and testify in court. There was supposed to be a jury. It was going to be quite the spectacle. But according to Radar Online, the case was settled outside of court at the last minute for an undisclosed amount of money. In previous court documents, Denise claimed that she offered to settle the case for $33,500, but the landlords rejected that offer. So, it remains unclear how much she paid for this long and drawn-out court battle to finally come to an end.
RELATED: Denise Richards Denies Allegations Of Fraud In $103k Legal Fight With Former Landlords
TELL US – DO YOU THINK THERE’S ANY TRUTH TO THESE CLAIMS? ARE YOU SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT THEY SETTLED THIS OUT OF COURT?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
