After missing an important deadline in his legal battle with former fling Rachel Leviss, Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval reportedly begged the Los Angeles Superior Court judge presiding over the case to allow him to avoid consequences for his errors, claiming that he was representing himself at the time, In Touch reports. 

As The Ashley previously reported, Rachel is suing Sandoval for Eavesdropping; she is suing Sandoval’s former girlfriend Ariana Madix for claims of Revenge P0rn; and both parties for Invasion of Privacy and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, stemming from alleged NSFW FaceTime videos involving Rachel and Sandoval that were allegedly recorded by Sandoval without Rachel’s consent and ultimately discovered on Sandoval’s phone by Ariana in March 2023.

According to In Touch, Sandoval has filed a declaration claiming that he missed an important deadline for the ongoing case because he was busy with the holidays and was trying to find a new lawyer to represent him after parting ways with his previous legal team in late 2024– a move that left him without any legal representation for 32 days.

Around this time, Rachel and her legal team submitted a list of questions that Sandoval was asked to answer as part of the ongoing case, which Sandoval failed to do. 

Sandoval explained in his declaration that, after parting ways with lawyers Tara Karamians and Varand Gourjian of The Gourjian Law Group, he was left to represent himself until he could find another attorney. Although Sandoval said he was aware that he had 30 days to respond to the questions submitted by Rachel and her legal team, he claims he didn’t know “the potential objections, or that missing the deadline to respond would result in a waiver of those obligations,” noting that he is “not an attorney” and has “no legal training.” 

“On December 13, 2024, I was newly representing myself, actively searching for another attorney and mistakenly believed that I had missed the deadline to respond,” Sandoval said. “I was concerned that this would make it appear as though I was trying to delay things.” 

Sandoval claims that he reached out to Rachel’s attorney to request a 30-day extension to “put together responses” to the submitted questions; however, he said Rachel’s attorney never responded to his email. 

According to In Touch, as of last month, Sandoval is being represented by attorney Colin Hardacre. In Sandoval’s recent motion, his new attorney asked that the court not punish his client for the deadlines that were missed while Sandoval was representing himself, arguing that Sandoval was “unfamiliar with discovery procedures.” 

“He did not understand what objections could be made, let alone that those objections would be waived by failing to serve timely responses,” the attorney continued. 

Sandoval’s attorney also noted that Sandoval represented himself for just 32 days, calling the duration “a short stretch,” during which Sandoval was “dealing with the transition from his former attorneys, actively searching for a new attorney and preparing for the holiday season.” 

“This chaotic stretch also happened to coincide with the date his responses to the first and only discovery served in this action were due,” he added. 

Included in Sandoval’s declaration was the list of questions that were submitted by Rachel and her attorneys, which were largely related to Sandoval’s public claims that Rachel’s attorneys wanted his help regarding a lawsuit against NBCUniversal (NBCU), the company behind Bravo.  

As The Ashley told you in October, Sandoval alleged on an episode of his Everybody Loves Tom podcast that Rachel offered to drop the lawsuit against him if he agreed to blame the discovery of their “Scandoval” affair on NBCU. Sandoval also alleged at the time that Rachel’s lawsuit was financially motivated and denied that Rachel was “manipulated” by him, as she has claimed.

Shortly after Sandoval made those claims on his podcast, @thebravobabe– a Bravo fan account on X that had reported on that particular podcast episode– shared screenshots of a response from Rachel’s attorney, Bryan Freeman, in which he denied Sandoval’s claims and reminded people that Sandoval may not be the most reliable source. 

“Let’s not forget the source of this information is Tom Sandoval, who illegally and secretly recorded Rachel Leviss in a sexually compromising situation without her knowledge or consent while cheating on his girlfriend,” the attorney wrote to the X account, which later posted the messages publicly. “Once again Tom Sandoval cannot be trusted and the reason are glaring. This is complete nonsense and even more evidence of Sandoval’s inability to tell the truth.” 

As The Ashley previously reported, a judge ruled in July that Rachel’s lawsuit against Sandoval and Ariana will be moving forward, despite the former couple’s respective attempts to have the case thrown out.

The case is set to go to trial on November 3, 2025. 

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(Photos: Bravo)