Tiffany Haddish was awarded nearly $100,000 in legal fees from her former friend who accused the comedian and her team of defaming her, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Tiffany shut down the claims brought by Trizah Morris. An arbitrator determined that Trizah had no case against Tiffany and awarded the entertainer $95,198 in legal fees.
Back in August 2023, Trizah Morris sued Tiffany and comedian Aries Spears for defamation. In the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Trizah explained she was friends with Tiffany from 2011 to 2020.
She said they performed together in comedy clubs, and Tiffany became like a family member to her two children.
Trizah said her children, who are now adults, are the ones who sued Tiffany and Aries in 2020.
In Trizah’s childrens’ bombshell lawsuit, they claimed they were used by the comedians in inappropriate sketches that sexualized them. Tiffany and Aries denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
They claimed the lawsuit was a shakedown attempt. In September 2022, Trizah’s daughter dismissed the case.
In Trizah’s lawsuit, filed a year after her children’s lawsuit was dismissed, she claimed her former friend’s lawyer defamed her during the fight with her children.
Her lawsuit read, “On or about September 2022, Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears, respectively, and/or their representatives, respectively, … gave permission to publish defamatory, slanderous, and libel comments to the press, news media, and social media outlets about Trizah Morris that were published world-wide.” She claimed Tiffany and Aries’ rep made it seem like she had extorted them with the lawsuit brought by her children.
Her lawsuit added, “The statements made against Trizah Morris are malicious, defamatory and slanderous representation of Trizah Morris.” Trizah’s complaint added, “Aries Spears alleged that Trizah Morris was an extortionist and shakedown artist.”
“Trizah Morris never extorted or attempted to extort Tiffany Haddish and/or Aries Spears,” her suit read.
Other remarks she took issue with from Tiffany and Aries’ teams included “nothing but a shakedown.”
Tiffany’s lawyer also told TMZ, “Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years.”
He added, “Every attorney who has initially taken on her case — and there were several — ultimately dropped the matter once it became clear that the claims were meritless and Ms. Haddish would not be shaken down. Now, Ms. Morris has her adult daughter representing herself in this lawsuit.
The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action.”
Trizah’s suit said the accusations against her ruined her reputation.
Her suit read, “Trizah Morris’ name and photograph appeared in blogs and media reports available all over the world as the cunning, conniving, deceitful ‘ex-friend’ of Tiffany Haddish.”
Trizah said she suffered personally and professionally sue to the alleged false accusations. In response, Tiffany claimed Trizah signed a settlement agreement as part of the lawsuit brought by her children.
The comedian said a year after the deal was signed, which resolved all claims between the parties, she said Trizah tried to claim she was defamed BEFORE the deal was signed.
Tiffany argued that the deal signed by Trizah stated all issues would be resolved in arbitration. The court granted the entertainer’s request to move the case out of the public eye in November 2023.
The arbitrator determined that the settlement agreement signed by Trizah had released all claims against Tiffany — and therefore, she could not sue for defamation. Tiffany was awarded $95,000 in legal fees and Aries scored $50,000 in fees from Trizah.
The original settlement agreement was submitted in court. The deal shows Tiffany and Aries never paid any money to the Trizah or her children. Instead, a mutual friend of the parties came forward to intervene.
The friend ran a comedy camp that the adult children had participated in and Tiffany had been a volunteer at previously. The friend agreed to pay a total of $232,000.
The deal said after the adult daughter dismissed the case and the family made a statement, the mutual friend would pay $184,000 to a charity selected by the Morris family. Another $48,000 was paid out to Trizah’s son via a trust account since he was a minor at the time. Tiffany agreed not to disparage the family, and the Morris family did the same.
The settlement included the statement that the Morris family would release to the media. In addition, the agreement had a $100,000 fee for any breach made by any party involved.
