Last year, Jim Bellino sued two of his ex-wife’s former castmates, alleging that Shannon Beador and Tamra Judge maliciously tried to ruin his life . A judge clearly disagrees with that, because Shannon, at least, is off the hook for his massive defamation lawsuit. Jim was ordered to reimburse her for money spent on an attorney, but he’s refusing to cough up the cash. We’ve been covering this story since it began, nearly a year ago. But though the judge reached a major decision for one of the people involved, it’s not over yet. Just a very quick refresher: Jim Bellino has been suing Tamra Judge and Shannon Beador to the tune of $1 million. He said that their idle gossip about his trampoline park business, made on a podcast last spring, caused him real financial harm. The pair argued in court that the disparaging comments about Jim’s business practices, calling him a “shady motherf–ker,” were not defamation. They explained that they could prove that Jim Bellino was shady , pointing out that it’s not defamation if it’s true . The judge came to agree with their argument … but only up to a point. The Blast reports that the judge has removed Shannon Beador from the lawsuit. While Tamra appears to still be on the hook — for now — until she, too, proves that her comments are true, this is already costing Jim. The judge ordered him to pay Shannon’s legal fees. But that bill totals to a hefty $220,000, and Jim is balking at paying such a steep sum. According to the report, Jim Bellino is arguing that the six-figure sum is “excessive” and “unreasonable.” (This from the guy suing two Real Housewives for one million dollars after they said unkind things about him) He has asked the judge to reverse that part of his decision, and to order that Jim owes Shannon nothing. If he doesn’t get his wish, he’s asking the court to slash his debt to Shannon by 80%. If the judge agrees, he would only have to pay Shannon $44,000. It is unclear why he thinks that her legal fees are “unreasonable.” We are not legal experts, but if that’s what she paid, it sounds reasonable that she be reimbursed for the full amount. And, as you can imagine, Jim is also less than satisfied with the court’s decision to remove Shannon from the lawsuit. The judge had ruled that it was essentially Jim’s fault, because he hadn’t come up with enough evidence or arguments to be convincing. But Jim says that Shannon’s investigators need to provide the court with more detail on the work that they did. It is unclear if this is a stalling tactic, a genuine legal strategy, or just an effort to drag this out by keeping Shannon tied to the case. Regardless, by fighting this, Jim may risk increasing the amount that he has to pay Shannon. He also may risk further irritating the judge. Notably, Tamra Judge is still facing this defamation suit. She and Shannon have been friends for a long time (despite that little hiccup last year, when they came close to openly feuding). Tamra has also asked to be removed from the lawsuit, but the judge has yet to grant that request. Maybe Jim has more evidence of Tamra’s alleged “defamation,” or maybe her statements about his business were just a little trickier to prove or disprove. If the entire lawsuit gets tossed, we wonder how much Jim will end up owing to the two women from whom he initially sought $1 million. Is this the most petty and humiliating lawsuit in Real Housewives history? No. That would be Joanna Krupa’s lawsuit against Brandi Glanville. That was also a defamation case — over an offhand comment that Brandi had made about Joanna’s alleged vaginal odor. Joanna actually put exes on the stand to testify about how her bits smell — and she won . There is always a chance that a lawsuit like Jim Bellino’s could win. If so, Tamra could be on the hook for a lot of cash. But Jim has taken a big risk here, and things don’t seem to be going his way. View Slideshow: Shannon Beador Slammed by David’s Girlfriend in Scathing Callout
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Shannon Beador: I Beat Jim Bellino in Court But He Won’t Pay Up!!
