Dr. Phil, Maury's Talk-Show Torts

If you were putting together a wish list for a successful talk show, it might look a little like this:

An opinionated host. Check.

Controversial subject matter. Check.

A good lawyer. Check and double-check.

It's been a rough week for daytime chatterboxes. In recent days both Dr. Phil and Maury have been on the wrong end of lawsuits chock-full of damning allegations.

The Dr. Phil folks were blasted by an ex-cop and convicted murderer who claims she was locked up by producers before an appearance on the show and, while trying to escape, she suffered injuries that required her leg to be amputated. And Maury Povich and his minions are facing a $25 million suit from a 14-year-old girl who says she was raped by a man who claimed he was a limo driver for the show. More on that later.

Laurie Bembenek, a former Milwaukee police officer who has been trying to clear her name from a murder rap two decades ago, filed suit against Dr. Phil Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

She says she was booked to appear on a 2002 installment of Dr. Phil McGraw's tough-love talkfest in which the results of potentially exonerating DNA evidence would be revealed. Dr. Phil had paid for the tests.

But before the show, Bembenek says she was taken to a gated apartment complex by Dr. Phil producers and left there under guard by a show staffer. While cooped up, she says she suffered a panic attack ("It felt like the walls were closing in on me because it felt just like prison again," Bembenek said, per Milwaukee's WISN TV) and tried to break out. She tied bedsheets together and attempted to lower herself from a second-floor window, but her knot unraveled and she crashed to the ground, sustaining several broken bones. Her right leg was so mangled that it had to be amputated.

Bembenek, 45, is suing McGraw, Dr. Phil producers and staffers and the show's studio, Paramount Pictures, for false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She seeks unspecified damages.

"By having more concern for television ratings and advertising dollars than for the safety and well-being of their guests, the Dr. Phil show acted recklessly, carelessly and in a grossly unethical manner," Bembenek's attorney, Stephen Bernard, said in a statement.

Paramount Pictures, which produces Dr. Phil, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the results of the Dr. Phil-sponsored DNA test have been held up. Bembenek was convicted in 1982 of murdering her husband's ex-wife. She fled to Canada before striking a deal with prosecutors in which her murder conviction was set aside and she was allowed to plead no contest to the reduced charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to time-served. Ever since, she's tried to clear her name, asserting there's evidence to prove someone else might have been the murderer.

As for the Maury mess, a New York State Supreme Court judge has ruled that a lawsuit brought by a teen guest can go forward against Povich's show.

The Texas girl appeared on an episode about "out of control teens." She says she was told to look and act "provocatively" and "sexually" and talk about her adult lovers during taping of the show on December 6, 2001. The suit claims that producers promised the girl's mother that the teen would be provided with psychological counseling, as well as transportation and hotel expenses.

After the show wrapped, she says a man approached her claiming to be "Maury's limo driver" and offering to escort her around town. According to the suit, he took her to a secluded area and raped her.

Maury lawyers had wanted the case dismissed, but State Supreme Court Justice Diane Lebedeff has ruled the girl has a valid claim because she was still under the show's travel arrangements when the alleged attack took place.

"We intend to defend against them vigorously and expect to be fully vindicated," Maury spokesman Gary Rosen told the Associated Press. "Even if [the girl's] story is true, the fact is the alleged assailant is not employed by or associated with the Maury Povich show or any of its employees."