‘Real Housewives Of Atlanta’: Kandi Burruss Suing Johnnie Winston For Defamation After He Sues First

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss isn’t about to let her former employee sue her with no recourse. After learning that Johnnie Winston was taking her to court for not getting paid enough, Kandi turned around and sued him back with claims of defamation according to All About The Tea.

RHOA fans who tuned in for the Season 9 finale on Sunday saw Kandi Burruss confront Phaedra Parks about whether or not she gave Johnnie Winston advice that he should sue her. Well, we saw it all play out, and Phaedra was involved in the situation. To make matters worse, Winston is using Phaedra’s law firm to litigate against Kandi, but he’s not using Phaedra as his lawyer.

Johnnie Winston’s lawsuit claims that Kandi Burruss failed to pay him overtime as well as an acceptable minimum wage. During the meeting with Phaedra’s firm, we got to see Parks herself tell the rest of the attorneys that by her estimate, Johnnie was paid roughly $2.03 per hour for his work on Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker’s wedding. Johnnie claimed that Kandi knew just how much work he was putting in and just how much she was paying him for it, meaning that she knew she was screwing him over when it came to paying fair wages.

It goes even deeper than just Kandi’s wedding, though, since Johnnie Winston was employed by Burruss from August 2013 to February 2016. In that time, Johnnie said that he worked as Kandi’s studio manager, production coordinator, and event planner. By Johnnie’s description of all the things he did for Kandi Burruss during his employment, it sounds like he might have been her personal assistant too.

By Johnnie’s description of all the things he did for Kandi Burruss during his employment, it sounds like he might have been her personal assistant too. Johnnie says he prepared meals, ran errands and even doubled as Kandi’s handyman and housekeeper at times to keep events running smoothly. Winston says that he wasn’t properly paid for all the time and hard work he put in during that time.

It turns out that Kandi Burruss believes that Johnnie Winston was paid fairly and she thinks she can prove it. Also, Kandi has hit back at Johnnie’s bad employer claims by slapping him with a lawsuit right back, claiming that Johnnie Winston is guilty of defamation.

Kandi claims that Johnnie is lying and that his intent was to cause damage to Kandi’s reputation. On top of that, her defamation suit also claims that Johnnie Winston made up the story about not being paid fairly so that he could seek legal counsel from Phaedra Parks, who was not in a good space with Kandi during Season 9 of Real Housewives of Atlanta. By doing that, he created a storyline for himself and was able to spend more time in front of the RHOA cameras.

“Mr. Winston’s statement were not only slanderous, defamatory and calculated to injure Defendants’ public persona and professional brand, but were also in breach of the Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement signed by Mr. Winston,” the filing states.

Kandi Burruss has also claimed in her defamation suit that Johnnie Winston owns his own catering service now. By keeping himself on camera to discuss his lawsuit against her, she believes that Johnnie is gaining extra publicity for his own company.

According to Kandi Burruss, Johnnie Winston was fired because he “kept dropping the ball” and it wasn’t until after their business relationship ended that she heard about his lawsuit while filming Real Housewives of Atlanta. Johnnie also claimed that he and Kandi had talked about opening a restaurant together before she decided to go ahead and open one with her husband Todd Tucker instead. Johnnie also claims that Kandi and Todd’s failed play “A Mother’s Love” was also his idea.

Kandi Burruss is looking to have Johnnie Winston’s wage lawsuit thrown out. She also wants her defamation case against him to go to trial by jury because she wants damages after claiming that his lawsuit and claims made on camera on Real Housewives of Atlanta have her both her reputation and her pocketbook.

Do you think Johnnie Winston should win his wage suit against Kandi Burruss or should that be dropped and her defamation suit won instead? Tell us what you think of this Real Housewives of Atlanta drama in the comments section below.

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