Lindsay Tries to Curb Crash Suit, Could Pull a 180

No way, no how, claims Lindsay Lohan's lawyer.

In a move to dismiss a lawsuit in which the plaintiff accused the starlet of being drunk on October 4, 2005, when she ran her Mercedes into his van, attorney Alfred Gerisch stated in papers filed last Thursday that the complaint is "nothing more than an attempt to extort money from a celebrity by setting forth false and scurrilous allegations." (Read the court document.)

Raymundo Ortega sued Lohan and celebrity hotspot the Ivy last month for at least $200,000, claiming negligence on both the actress' part and the restaurant's for supposedly serving the then-underage actress alcohol at lunch.

When the suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Lohan was in the midst of her 45-day stay at the Promises treatment facility in Malibu following an allegedly alcohol-fueled single-car accident on May 26.

Gerisch's rebuttal was in turn filed before Lohan's latest wrong turn, a bust Tuesday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence, cocaine possession and driving with a suspended license, charges that—compiled with her other arrest—could possibly land Lohan in jail for six months, according to legal experts who have weighed in on the starlet's troubles.

But one thing off the docket at a time.

As Gerisch points out in his filing last week, police found the day after the '05 crash that alcohol did not factor in and neither did the paparazzi. Lohan, who was treated for minor injuries, said afterward that she had been fleeing the usual horde of shutterbugs when she crashed into Ortega's van, which in turn hit a parked delivery van.

A small claims suit filed by the second van's owner asking Lohan to foot the bill for repairs was dismissed on July 13, the same day the Mean Girls star checked out of rehab, after the plaintiff missed a court date.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also ruled that Ortega was at fault because he had made an illegal U-turn right in front of Lohan, whom a spokesman called an "innocent victim."

"While speaking with the involved parties, I did not observe any objective signs of either alcohol or drug intoxication and determined that no further investigation regarding intoxication was warranted," reads the police report.

Lohan's publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnik, told E! Online last month that her client was completely sober when the '05 accident on Robertson Boulevard occurred.

Gerisch states that Ortega's suit does not state sufficient facts and is unsupported by the police report, and therefore should be tossed.

In case that doesn't happen, though, Gerisch also filed a motion to remove L.A. Superior Court Judge Soussan Brugera—who was randomly selected to preside over the case—from hearing any motions, claiming that the actress won't be able to get a fair hearing.

A hearing which, nevertheless, is set for Sept. 20.

That's after Lohan is scheduled to appear in court to be arraigned on charges of drunken driving, drug possession and driving with a suspended license, alleged infractions racked up yesterday morning when the troubled 21-year-old was arrested in Santa Monica after supposedly engaging her former assistant's mom in an impromptu car chase.

Santa Monica police said that Lohan's blood-alcohol level registered between 0.12 and 0.13 percent and that a usable amount of cocaine was found in her pocket when she was taken into custody.

Arraignment has been set for Aug. 24, the same day Lohan was already scheduled to appear in Beverly Hills to answer to the DUI and hit-and-run charges stemming from her smashup on Sunset Boulevard in the wee hours of May 26, two days before she made Promises that she apparently couldn't keep. The L.A. District Attorney's Office is still reviewing the May incident.

While Lohan's attorney, Blair Berk, said immediately following her client's latest legal snafu that Lohan had suffered a relapse and was receiving medical attention, the star of the thriller I Know Who Killed Me, which opens Friday, said in an email to Access Hollywood last night that she was innocent.

"Yes. I am innocent," she wrote. "Did not do drugs they're not mine. I was almost hit by my assistant's mom. I appreciate everyone giving me privacy."

Meanwhile, legal experts are saying that Lohan's best bet right now is another stint in rehab—it would be her third in seven months—or else she could be looking at up to six months in jail if she's convicted on all charges.

Once she's arraigned, and if she doesn't plead out, she could opt to ask a judge to order her into treatment while she awaits trial, time that could count in her favor if she's given a jail sentence.

Lohan, although she could face charges from two separate incidents, is technically a first-time offender, having never been convicted of a similar crime, and she would normally get probation for a misdemeanor DUI offense.

But because she's being investigated on suspicion of felony DUI in the May 26 crash, as well as felony drug possession from yesterday's arrest—and because Paris Hilton had to spend 23 days behind bars, possibly setting a hard-line precedent for Hollywood types—Lohan could get anywhere between 30 and 180 days behind bars, experts say.

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