Ellen DeGeneres' Legal Team Fires Back After Woman Sues Host Claiming Negligence Over Alleged 2023 Car Crash Becca Longmire, Sean NeumannJanuary 27, 2026 at 8:32 PM 0 Ellen DeGeneres Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Ellen DeGeneres' legal team is requesting that delivery of legal documents relating to a 2023 car crash that the host was allegedly involved in be declared invalid De Generes' attorneys state that because the documents were allegedly delivered to the offices of the business management firm, NKSFB, rather than her personal address, "there was no reason ...
- - Ellen DeGeneres' Legal Team Fires Back After Woman Sues Host Claiming Negligence Over Alleged 2023 Car Crash
Becca Longmire, Sean NeumannJanuary 27, 2026 at 8:32 PM
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Ellen DeGeneres
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In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Ellen DeGeneres' legal team is requesting that delivery of legal documents relating to a 2023 car crash that the host was allegedly involved in be declared invalid
De Generes' attorneys state that because the documents were allegedly delivered to the offices of the business management firm, NKSFB, rather than her personal address, "there was no reason to believe Ms. DeGeneres would be there"
The plaintiff concerned is suing DeGeneres, alleging general negligence following a motor vehicle accident, which she claims occurred in Santa Barbara County on Oct. 16, 2023
Ellen DeGeneres' legal team is firing back after a woman said she was suing the host over an alleged car crash, which she claims occurred in October 2023.
Court documents obtained by PEOPLE — which were filed by the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, and dated Jan. 21, 2026 — stated that DeGeneres' attorneys were filing a motion to quash service of summons after the plaintiff said three attempts had been made to deliver legal documents to DeGeneres on Jan. 5, 6 and 7 of this year.
However, DeGeneres' lawyers are arguing that delivery of the suit should be declared invalid because the attempts to serve the host with the papers had been made at the business management firm, NKSFB, LLC.
The documents acknowledged that "certain documents were dropped off at the reception desk at Neuman + Associates" — a division of NKSFB — on Dec. 23, 2025.
Ellen DeGeneres
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A declaration made by Neuman + Associates partner and founder, Harley J. Neuman, stated, "Neuman + Associates is not Ms. DeGeneres' dwelling house, usual place of abode, or usual place of business," claiming that DeGeneres "was not at Neuman + Associates at the time of the drop off," but said that he was.
"There was no verbal interaction with the process server that I am aware of. The process server did not inform anyone of the contents of the documents that I am aware of. Nobody signed any acknowledgement of receipt of the documents that I am aware of. Likewise, I am not aware of a copy of the summons and complaint being mailed to my office," Neuman claimed in the papers when speaking about the Dec. 23 drop off last year.
"There was no reason to believe Ms. DeGeneres would be there at all, and especially not on those two random days in January," the documents stated of the attempts to deliver the documents earlier this year.
Neuman — who serves on the Board of Directors of the Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund, per the NKSFB website — said in the papers, "I have a business relationship, through Neuman + Associates, with Ms. DeGeneres and am generally familiar with Ms. DeGeneres' business operations and personal living situation."
The documents also added, "It should be reasonably apparent to anyone, especially a process server, that a security guard at a 20-story building is not 'in charge' of a business on the fifth floor of that building."
"And since NKSFB, LLC is neither Ms. DeGeneres' home nor business, a security guard at the building is extremely unlikely to have a relationship with Ms. DeGeneres such that the security guard would reliably deliver the Complaint documents to Ms. DeGeneres," the papers stated.
The plaintiff is suing DeGeneres for general negligence following a motor vehicle accident, which she claims occurred in Santa Barbara County on Oct. 16, 2023. She said the alleged incident has caused both property damage and personal injury, per the documents.
The woman alleged that DeGeneres entered an intersection without stopping at a stop sign, allegedly crashing into the plaintiff's Tesla.
Ellen DeGeneres
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According to the papers filed by the plaintiff, they're claiming to have suffered wage loss, loss of use of property, hospital and medical expenses, general damage, property damage, loss of earning capacity and loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress and anxiety.
The woman is seeking unspecified compensatory damages, per the documents, which were dated Sept. 12, 2025. A court date is scheduled for April 30 of this year.
A rep for DeGeneres didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment.
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The update comes after PEOPLE reported last month that the woman suing DeGeneres had requested a jury trial related to the case, after claiming that the host "t-boned" her car during the 2023 accident.
DeGeneres is currently living in the English countryside after she and her wife, Portia de Rossi, sold their California home and relocated overseas in the fall of 2024, a move that was largely motivated by a desire to avoid President Donald Trump's term, DeGeneres has said.
They then sold the U.K. farmhouse they bought for $30 million in July, and moved into a larger property that could accommodate de Rossi's horses, her wife told The Wall Street Journal.
In an August Instagram post, DeGeneres said her wife was "living her dream" in their new hood. She shared a video compilation of the actress and her animals, and wrote that she's loving "riding her horse through the English countryside and into the village."
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: January 27, 2026 at 10:45AM on Source: OPERA MAG
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