A Los Angeles judge on Sept. 5 allowed Colette Barris to add six causes of action to her lawsuit against her brother, “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, 52. The additions include defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Kenya Barris did not oppose the motion.
The ruling restarts a case that both sides had twice described as settled. It also expands a complaint that began as a single contract dispute into a much broader set of claims against one of television’s most prominent creators.
The Claims Added to the Complaint
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter A. Hernandez granted the motion to amend on Sept. 5, permitting Colette Barris to plead defamation, tortious interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, public disclosure of private facts and negligence. Her brother’s lawyers filed no opposition, so the judge decided the request without a contested hearing on the merits of the new claims.
None of the allegations has been proven. An order permitting an amendment decides only what a plaintiff may plead, not whether any of it is true.
Kenya Barris is represented by Bryan J. Freedman of Freedman + Taitelman. Colette Barris was represented by attorney Ariel Mitchell as of April 2025. She is a teacher with more than 30 years in Los Angeles Unified schools.
A Six-Year Record, Step by Step
No single account assembles the full sequence. Laid end to end, the filings show a dispute that has reached the edge of resolution twice and resumed both times.
In December 2020, Kenya Barris sought a domestic-violence restraining order against his sister, then withdrew it. In that filing he alleged she had used his name and “fake support to cozy up and secure face time” with studio executives. He also alleged she had sent a legal demand letter asking him to fund a $4 million movie project based on her novel, and had threatened to go public. Those were his allegations, and the request never reached a ruling.
On Feb. 22, 2021, the siblings settled. The agreement included a clause in which they agreed “not to communicate any disparaging remarks about each other, or about any matters that led to this agreement.” It also resolved the restraining-order request.
In June 2022, Colette Barris alleges her brother breached that clause. According to her complaint, he called her a “70-year-old no talent hack” to a third party and said she had not earned “the right to be a show creator.” Those quotations come from her filing. They have not been confirmed as statements he made.
She filed her original lawsuit in December 2022. Kenya Barris was served at 9:54 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2023 at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood during the premiere of his film “You People.” A process server posing as a photographer approached him and said, “You’ve been served.”
In April 2025, Colette Barris sought an emergency protective order against her brother. In that request she alleged he was “manipulating and intimidating” their 83-year-old mother, Ernestine Barris, and pressuring her to write a letter containing false statements. She said she had a recording showing he violated the 2021 agreement. Ernestine Barris retained her own attorney and asked both of her children to communicate through counsel. The characterizations in that filing are allegations by Colette Barris.
On Dec. 5, 2025, attorneys announced a settlement at a trial-setting conference before Judge Hernandez, who vacated the conference. No terms were disclosed. At a status conference on June 8, 2026, attorneys confirmed the settlement was never finalized. Colette Barris signaled she would amend her complaint. Judge Hernandez granted that amendment on Sept. 5, 2026.
The sequence covers nearly six years. A restraining-order request produced a signed agreement, and the agreement produced a lawsuit. A settlement announced in open court produced no settlement at all. The case now carries more claims than it did when it was filed in December 2022.
Kenya Barris’s Response in Court
Kenya Barris has answered the original allegations in filings, though he did not oppose the September amendment.
In a 2023 court filing he moved to dismiss the suit. He denied damaging his sister’s reputation. He argued the statements at issue “were not of or concerning” Colette Barris. He argued any harm to her reputation was self-inflicted, and he asked the court for his legal fees.
That filing predates the six new causes of action by three years. He has not publicly responded to the amended claims.
The Novel at the Center of the Earliest Allegations
Colette Barris published her novel “Claretta Street” on July 10, 2017. The book runs 248 pages. It follows four young African American girls nicknamed “the Babies” from 1960s Pacoima into adulthood in the 1980s. She is a USC graduate.
The book figures in the earliest chapter of the dispute. Kenya Barris’s withdrawn December 2020 filing alleged his sister had sent a demand letter seeking $4 million to fund a film based on the novel. That allegation was never tested in court, because he withdrew the request before any hearing.
Kenya Barris created “Black-ish” and its spinoffs and has written and directed feature films, among them “You People,” the premiere of which became the setting for the service of his sister’s original complaint. The June 2026 status conference put the case back on a litigation track after the December 2025 announcement came to nothing, and the Sept. 5 order sets the scope of what comes next.
