Kevin Hart Court Battle Delayed Amid Car Crash Recovery

While Kevin Hart recovers from a serious car crash, the comedian’s ongoing court battle with former business partners has been postponed. The Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star is fighting a $7 million lawsuit filed by the company Stand Up Digital. The trial was supposed to start on Monday, Sept. 9 with a pre-trial hearing Friday.

Hart asked the just to delay the trial, according to court documents obtained by The Blast Thursday. Hart asked for the trial to be taken off the calendar while he recovers and Stand Up Digital did not object.

The judge agreed and the trial was postponed until a later date. There will be a conference on Oct. 1 to provide the judge with an update.

Hart has been fighting this lawsuit since late last year. Stand Up Digital claimed it invested over $1.25 million in developing a game called Gold Ambush that would feature Hart and his family as characters. It was set to launch in September 2017.

However, the company claims the app failed after Hart confessed to an extramarital affair and he claimed he was being blackmailed with a sex tape a month before the app would become available. Stand Up Digital claimed Hart refused to communicate with them after the confession and sued for $7.2 million in damages.
Hart tried to get the lawsuit dismissed earlier this year, reports The Blast. The judge tossed a breach of contract claim, but three other claims against him remained.

The Ride Along star filed a counter-suit and accused the company of trying to pass the buck on the app’s failure. They “released into an app market where the overwhelming majority of gaming apps make insignificant revenue, and the few successful games, such as Game of War, have advertising budgets in the tens of millions of dollar,” Hart claimed.

In August, Hart filed another court document, insisting his personal life had nothing to do with the app’s flop.

“Negative reviews identified flaws with the underlying gameplay. Mr. Hart and his family members were the sole characters in the game, and this made for a confusing experience. The game was also overly- intrusive for players and had technical flaws,” the documents read, reports The Blast. “Despite Plaintiff’s representations to this Court, Mr. Hart posted and promoted the game, even in the wake of his scandal, but to no avail. The problem was that Plaintiff was undercapitalized and lacked adequate funding to properly maintain and update the game in its formative stages.”

Hart was involved in a serious car accident in the early morning hours of Sept. 1. He was a passenger in his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda when driver Jared Black lost control on Mulholland Highway. Hart and Black both suffered major back injuries. A second passenger, Rebecca Broxterman, suffered “only complaint of pain,” police said.

Hart reported fractured his spine in three places and is in “intense pain.” Although he is expected to fully recover, actor Terry Crews said his friend will “have to rebuild his life.”

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