Lowe High on Lawsuits, Not Police Intervention

Tue., Apr. 8, 2008 4:31 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Considering the problems he allegedly had with one chef, perhaps Rob Lowe doesn't want too many cooks in the kitchen now.

Although he publicly accused one of his family's former nannies of attempted extortion—and then went and sued her and two other erstwhile employees—the actor's legal camp has informed police that he doesn't wish to file a criminal complaint.

"We spoke to Mr. Lowe and his attorney yesterday, and they told us, at this time, they are going to handle this as civil matter," Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department Deputy Alex Tipolt told E! News Tuesday.

“Without the cooperation of the victim, it makes that a little difficult," he added, when asked whether authorities would pursue an investigation without Lowe's help. "And we don’t even know the exact facts of what transpired. "

Lowe claims that Jessica Gibson, who he says worked for his family on and off for seven years, told people she had "a personal and intimate relationship [with Lowe]" and remarked that "she wished he would divorce Sheryl Lowe."

Gibson was the then-unidentified target of a blog item the Brothers & Sisters star published on the Huffington Post Monday, in which he railed about a former household employee who was threatening to unleash a "vicious laundry list of false terribles" if he didn't pay her $1.5 million.

On Monday, Lowe and his wife, Sheryl, filed individual lawsuits—two in Santa Barbara and one in Los Angeles Superior Court—against Gibson and two others, accusing them all of violating confidentiality agreements they signed when they were hired, as well as various other actions that otherwise violated the family's trust. (View the lawsuits.)

They accuse Gibson of a litany of sins, including defamation, trespass, breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. He and the missus are asking for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Gibson, meanwhile, appears to be revving up to state her own case, as well, with a rep for the ex-nanny telling Extra in a statement: "Our complaint will speak for itself. Everything in the complaint is true. We do not need the media to win the case."

Similarly, the couple have sued another babysitter who worked for them over the last year, Laura Boyce, citing all of the same complaints as above, except for trespass. (View the suit.)

Also on the receiving end of the Lowes' triad of legal wrath was their former chef, Peter Clement.

Per court documents, they have accused Clement of throwing parties at their Santa Barbara home while they were away, stealing from their medicine cabinet and doling out their prescription medications to his friends, breaking security cameras on the property; overcharging them for food; stealing mail out of their mailbox and having sex in the master bedroom with strangers "without their knowledge or permission."

As if that last part needed to be spelled out.

—Additional reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum

(UPDATED April 9, 2008 at 3:41 p.m. PT)