Why did Nicolas Cage's ex Christina Fulton sue RHOBH star Erika Jayne? Cause explored

RHOBH star Erika Jayne is facing trouble again. Nicolas Cage's ex-wife Christina Fulton has allegedly sued Jayne and her estranged husband Tom Girardi for over $745,000 over fraud and theft claims.

The 55-years old Christina Fulton filed the lawsuit on Friday, July 15, alleging that Jayne, her estranged husband, Tom Girardi, and two of his former colleagues misappropriated her accident settlement, which reportedly totaled $924,000, to support their personal lifestyles.

Christina Fulton's California attorney Ronald Richards told E! News on July 18 that the actress has so far "had her settlement check forged, her money stolen within days of the deposit, and was kept in the dark until our investigation uncovered what happened."

Further discussing the lawsuit, Richards added:

"To lure her, she was given small payments by the firm, she was given false status reports both verbally and in writing, and was let down by the three attorneys who represented her in her settlement. The money that was stolen from the firm trust account was then used to pay the personal lifestyle expenses of the Girardi's including Erika Girardi through her company EJ Global LLC."

According to the lawsuit:

“Plaintiff’s settlement funds was used to pay the balances of American Express credit cards or charge cards used by Erika and EJG, and later PMI. These were all personal expenses of Erika’s being paid off using Plaintiff’s money from the Nano Bank operating account. In 2019, Erika via her solely owned LLC EJG received $407,058.19 from Girardi Keese. Her receivables grew as well. This is the same year plaintiff was to receive her settlement funds. Erika misappropriated plaintiff’s settlement funds. The facts speak for themselves.”

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Christina Fulton sued RHOBH star Erika Jayne, as the latter mishandled the former's funds

Christina Fulton is suing the RHOBH star and her estranged husband, Tom Girardi, for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, and legal malpractice, among other complaints.

Christina, who dated Nicolas Cage in late 1988 but separated shortly after the birth of their now 31-years-old son, Weston Coppola Cage, in 1990, was seriously injured in a 2016 car crash.

She retained the 83-year-old former attorney and his firm, Girardi & Keese, to represent her in a personal injury dispute. The Hard Drive actress reportedly reached a settlement for about $924,300 in March 2019 in the dispute, but Christina alleged that she was unaware of "where her money went until now."

She allegedly discovered earlier this month that her settlement award had been "dissipated" and her former legal representation had "lied to her."

The lawsuit reportedly alleged that Tom and his estranged wife used the settlement amount as "their assets" to pay for their "lavish lifestyles." The plaintiff has sued the "public couple who preached wealth and success" and is seeking $750,000 in damages.

Her attorney, Richards, told Page Six:

“Erika profited off of these funds, which [were] used to provide content for the ‘Housewives’ show to which she was paid for. She directly received vendor payments from these funds and personally benefited from the misappropriation of our client’s settlement.”

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About Erika's other legal troubles

Her legal troubles started in November 2020 after she filed for divorce from her husband Tom Girardi after 21 years of marriage. A month later, a lawsuit was filed after the estranged couple was accused of embezzling $2 million in settlement funds from plane crash victims. However, the complaints were reportedly dropped against her in January in Illinois.

The pair was again named in a new lawsuit earlier this month. In the lawsuit, Edelson PC reportedly alleged that the reality TV star had "specific knowledge" of Tom's alleged wrongdoings. However, she denied such allegations. Speaking about her legal woes, she told Us in May:

“I am front and center. I am the face of this instead of the lawyers that worked at the firm and referring attorneys and, you know, law funding people — instead they point to me. For my mental health, it’s been hard. No doubt. But again, I couldn’t lose and I was just going to fight it out every way possible and still am.”

Despite all the legal troubles, Erika continued filming the Bravo show. The reality TV star is yet to address the lawsuit filed by Christina publicly.