A Los Angeles judge has cleared the way for Colette Barris to pile new legal claims onto her yearslong lawsuit against her brother, Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, pushing a family feud that began with a restraining order request in 2020 even further from resolution. Judge Peter A. Hernandez ruled that Colette Barris properly explained why her amended complaint was necessary and granted her permission to add causes of action for defamation, tortious interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, public disclosure of private facts and negligence.
The ruling marks the latest escalation in a legal battle that has stretched across several years and multiple courtrooms, according to MyNewsLA.com. Colette Barris, who has spent more than three decades as a teacher at Los Angeles Unified high and middle schools, first filed her breach-of-contract suit against her brother in Los Angeles Superior Court in December 2022. Kenya Barris, a 52-year-old film and television writer, producer, director, and actor, did not oppose the filing of the updated suit, per the same account.
The dispute traces back to a settlement agreement dated February 22, 2021, in which Kenya Barris promised not to disparage his sister in the future. That agreement followed Kenya Barris's own push for a domestic violence restraining order against Colette Barris, in which he alleged she had abused his children, according to court papers cited by MyNewsLA.com. He agreed to drop that restraining order request, and the anti-disparagement pact was signed roughly two months later, in February 2021, according to theJasmineBRAND, which reported that Kenya Barris's original 2020 filing accused Colette Barris of using his celebrity name without permission to secure Hollywood meetings and of threatening his six children.
A Lawsuit Served on a Red Carpet
Colette Barris's revised complaint centers on Kenya Barris's alleged post-settlement breaches, and the way she initially delivered her legal papers to him became a story in itself. In January 2023, a process server disguised as a photographer served Kenya Barris with the original breach-of-contract lawsuit at 9:54 p.m. during the Westwood premiere of his Netflix film You People at the Regency Village Theatre, according to Atlanta Black Star. The process server approached Kenya Barris while he was posing for red carpet photos alongside cast members including Eddie Murphy, the outlet reported.
According to her suit, Kenya Barris called his sister a “no-talent hack.” Court filings detail the remark further: per RadarOnline, Kenya Barris allegedly told a third party in June 2022 that Colette Barris was a “70-year-old no-talent hack” who had not earned the right to be a show creator and wanted to go to the front of the line. Colette Barris has claimed the remarks damaged her reputation and hindered her attempts to pitch her own creative projects to studios.
A Novel, a Stalled Adaptation, and a Family Feud
Colette Barris is the author of the 2017 historical fiction novel Claretta Street, set in 1960s Pacoima, California, which she has actively sought to adapt into a television series, according to Book Notification. She has maintained that her brother's alleged disparagement interfered with her efforts to sell the adaptation rights for the book in Hollywood.
The feud has also reached beyond the two siblings. In April 2025, Colette Barris filed court documents in Los Angeles seeking a protective order to block Kenya Barris from contacting their 83-year-old mother, Ernestine Barris, alleging he was pressuring and manipulating her to provide false testimony in their dispute, according to TMZ. Court documents indicated that Ernestine Barris retained her own attorney to instruct both siblings to stop contacting her directly about the litigation.
A Collapsed Settlement Reopens the Fight
Los Angeles Superior Court records show a settlement had been announced in the case during a December 5 trial-setting conference, but the deal fell apart. During a June status conference, the lawsuit was reported unresolved, and attorneys informed the judge that the earlier settlement had collapsed. That breakdown paved the way for Colette Barris to seek permission for her expanded amended complaint.
By adding claims for tortious interference, civil conspiracy and public disclosure of private facts, Colette Barris has widened her lawsuit from a simple contract dispute into a broader tort action alleging intentional commercial and personal injury. The tortious interference claim specifically targets allegations that Kenya Barris deliberately sabotaged Colette Barris's business negotiations with third-party entertainment buyers.
Legal Backing on Both Sides
The judge's decision to allow six new causes of action four years after the original settlement rests on broad statutory discretion. Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 473(a)(1), state trial judges can grant leave to amend pleadings “in furtherance of justice” at nearly any point in a lawsuit, and California courts apply a liberal standard toward amended complaints unless the opposing side shows clear legal prejudice, according to FindLaw.
Kenya Barris built a major Hollywood footprint creating ABC's Black-ish and its spin-offs, later signing a $100 million deal with Netflix in 2018 before moving to a multi-year development deal with ViacomCBS and BET Studios. His production company, Khalabo Ink Society, produces feature films and television series across streaming and broadcast networks, per Atlanta Black Star's reporting.
Kenya Barris is represented by a legal team including attorney Bryan J. Freedman of Freedman + Taitelman LLP, one of Hollywood's most prominent crisis litigators. Freedman has represented figures including Megyn Kelly, Justin Baldoni, Gabrielle Union, Don Lemon, Tucker Carlson and the Menendez brothers in high-profile disputes, according to his law firm's biography, and specializes in high-stakes entertainment industry employment, contract and defamation litigation.
