J.Lo, Anthony Suing Mad over Enquirer Smack Story

Mon., Apr. 16, 2007 5:00 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Jenny's attorney is taking a block of European courts by storm.

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony will file suit Tuesday against the National Enquirer in multiple overseas courts in response to a Mar. 12 item that appeared in the tabloid's British and Irish editions linking the couple to a drug scandal, their lawyer said.

Belfast-based attorney Paul Tweed confirmed to E! News that he will be filing similar complaints in Belfast, Dublin, London and Paris demanding full and categorical detractions, an apology and substantial damages—a six-figure settlement, he said—from the Enquirer and parent company American Media Inc.

Last month, the U.S.-headquartered publication ran an article in Europe about photographer Michael Star, who has been charged on Stateside soil with heroin possession and child pornography. The article, accompanied by a 2004 picture of Star standing with Anthony, stated that Anthony and Lopez had been "caught up in a heroin scandal." The Enquirer also featured a quote from a supposed "friend" of Star's who said that the shutterbug and J.Lo's hubby are pals.

Tweed said, however, that his client and Star do not even know each other, and that the two were photographed backstage at one of Anthony's concerts—just the singer posing for a snapshot with a fan, the attorney explained.

So if Anthony doesn't know Star, chances are Lopez was pretty surprised to find herself and heroin mentioned in the same article, as well.

It is substantially easier for celebrities to sue for defamation in the U.K. and other European jurisdications than it is in the United States, where plaintiffs have to prove that a publication knowingly printed a false statement or behaved with reckless disregard for the truth. In places such as England, where American A-listers ranging from Britney Spears to Kate Hudson to Cameron Diaz have been awarded libel damages, the burden is on the defendant to prove an item was true.

"The First Amendment restrictions in U.S. libel law make it virtually impossible for international celebrities other high-profile individuals to sue successfully," Tweed told the Associated Press. "But with the advance of the Internet, and with U.S. publications now extending their distribution network into Europe, they must subject themselves to libel laws in these jurisdictions."

Tweed said that he has already received permission from the Belfast high court to go after the Enquirer, even though the tab's home office is in Boca Raton, Florida.

A spokesman for American Media declined to comment.