lawsuit (93 posts)

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Hailey Glassman and Michael Lohan have never met a camera they didn't like. But right about now they're probably wishing they had just kept their media-whoring mouths shut.

And if they're not, then Jon Gosselin certainly is.

TLC's pit-bull law firm has unveiled its wish list of Gosselin hangers-on to be grilled in the network's breach-of-contract suit against the octodad, and in a surprise to no one, both Glassman and Lohan are tops on their wish list.

In addition to the publicity parasites, the Washington, D.C.-based firm of Williams & Connolly wants to depose Thomas Meinelt, the paparazzo turned Gosselin bodyguard who is no doubt harboring extensive dirt on his new boss; Jon's divorce attorneys Michael and Mark Heller; and Matthew Kirschner, the rep for the "talent" that is J.Goss.

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Morgan Freeman's crash suit has come to the end of the road.

The Oscar winner has settled the negligence suit filed against him in the wake of last summer's rollover car crash in the Mississippi Delta.

According to the state's Clarion-Ledger, the short-on-details court records were filed today, though do not disclose the amount or nature of the settlement.

The suit was filed in February, with passenger Demaris Meyers claiming that Freeman's precrash drinking was to blame for the accident, which left them both seriously injured.

Earlier this summer, Freeman, 71, roundly denied the allegations, and vowed to prove that Meyers was "comparatively negligent." A trial date to decide the matter had been set for next August.

That's one more to cross off the bucket list.

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Morgan Freeman avoided face time with a judge, but not all stars are so lucky, as evidenced by our Court Appearances gallery.

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Let's be honest—both Carrie Prejean and the Miss California pageant belong in a ballroom rather than a courthouse.

So it stands to reason that the battling beauty peeps managed to settle their differences out of court. Terms of the settement were not disclosed, but all parties seemed happy about it.

"Carrie Prejean, [pageant director] Keith Lewis, and K2 productions [the independent pageant producers] have dropped their claim against each other and wish each other the best in their future endeavors," according to the official settlement statement.

In other words, the smackdown that began with a roar, ended with a whimper...

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Kate Winslet has followed up her Oscar-winning role in The Reader with a damages-winning role as the Litigator.

The A-lister has banked more than $40,000 in damages after winning a lawsuit against Britain's Daily Mail for a story that falsely claimed she lied about her workout routine.

The article in question, headlined "Should Kate Winslet Win an Oscar for the World's Most Irritating Actress," was published in January alongside naked pics of Winslet.

The 34-year-old thesp was not in court for the verdict, but her solicitor read a statement on her behalf explaining how the story had offended her and caused her a "great deal of distress"—not only because it was "simply not true," but also because it gave people the wrong impression about her views on the female body.

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So it's settled then.

Desmond and Penny are television's best couple. The sexual harassment suit against Lost star Henry Ian Cusick is finished, according to a notice of settlement filed Oct. 19.

The 42-year-old Scottish actor was accused of groping Chelsea Stone, a former production employee, and making suggestive sounds and gestures in her direction on the Lost set back in 2007.

She complained and, 12 days later, she was fired, according to the lawsuit filed in April against the star, ABC and production company Grass Skirt Entertainment.

Stone was seeking unspecified damages to cover hostile work environment harassment, failure to remedy and prevent harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual battery.

Per the court filing, the parties reached a confidential settlement on Oct. 5. No comment from Team Lost.

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It's difficult to think of Cusick without considering Desmond and Penny, one of the TV Couples We Love!

Visit Fancast to watch full episodes of your favorite shows and get the top TV quotes of the week.

This is a case of he said, they said and the district attorney said, "Whatever."

Joe Francis claims Brody Jenner's girlfriend, Jayde Nicole, attacked him outside L.A. nightclub Guys & Dolls early in the morning on Aug. 28.

Nicole, however, claims the Girls Gone Wild guru came after her, and she's since filed a $1 million lawsuit against him. Francis in turn countersued last week, claiming he thought the Playboy model was going to "kill" him.

They don't have any major injuries to speak of, so it's a good thing they have those civil suits to help them figure out what happened that night. Prosecutors are wiping their hands of the drama.

"The interests of justice do not support the filing of criminal charges against any of the three suspects," states the Los Angeles County District Attorney's charge evaluation worksheet.

Of course, the authorities don't completely give up on pointing fingers at the instigator of all the hair-pulling drama.

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Ever had an annoying noisy neighbor?

You know the one who plays their music way too loud and rehearses their world tour dance choreography at all hours of the night?

No? Well, you must not be fortunate enough to share an adjoining wall with Madonna. The Material Mama has allegeldy transformed her Central Park West apartment into a disruptive studio, and upstairs neighbor Karen George is suing mad.

According to the lawsuit against the building board obtained by the New York Post, "Madonna and one or more of her invited guests repeatedly dance and train...to unreasonably high-decibel, amplified music, causing noise and vibration to pour through the walls, ceilings and radiators."

The suit, filed Friday in Manhattan, states that the board has already threatened Madge with eviction if her dance sessions do not desist.

A rep for the Queen of Pop has yet to comment on the issue.

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Seems like Madonna is always in the news—don't miss a moment.

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UPDATE: McGraw's rep has just released the following statement to E! News: "All of Shirley Rae Dieu’s claims are without merit...Dr. Phil is never alone in the House with any of these guests and all of his interactions are captured on video- and/or audiotape.

"Ms. Dieu filed a claim with the Los Angeles Police Department some nine months after the incident, which was investigated and ultimately not pursued by the Los Angeles city attorney. All guests of the show are treated with dignity and respect and the show stands by the manner in which she was handled while participating on the show."
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We don't know what the disease was, but this is one instance where the treatment was definitely worse. Much, much, creepily worse, if the allegations are true.

Dr. Phil McGraw was on the receiving end of a bizarre and damning, to say the least, lawsuit yesterday, with a former female patient of his alleging that the TV doctor and select members of his production staff held her captive, brainwashed her and subjected her to constant exposure by a naked man, among other accusations.

She also claims that McGraw even once groped her during a therapy session.

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Audrina Patridge's alleged stalker will have to stay on his side of The Hills for good.

The reality starlet and her brother, makeup artist Mark Patridge, appeared in court this morning to make 24-year-old Zachory Loring stay away from her permanently. She and her sib were granted a temporary restraining order on Sept. 10 after Loring showed up at their Hollywood Hills home with disturbing poems and letters, a beer and even a drawing of a woman being strangled.

"Audrina appeared this morning in Los Angeles Superior Court and took the witness stand," her rep, Jennifer Shoucair Weaver, tells E! News. "She was questioned by attorney Jeffery Rubenstein about several incidents which occurred with an alleged stalker, Zachory Loring. The judge issued a three-year permanent restraining order against Mr. Loring, who did not appear in court, to stay 100 yards from Audrina."

Too bad simply bickering won't be enough to force Kristin Cavallari to keep away from the Sorority Row victim.

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Speaking of, look at all the friendliness in Big Pic today!

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UPDATE: Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor are present in the courtroom this morning.

Documents have been filed and, as predicted, there are now 11 felony complaints against Stern, including accusations of using a false name to score Smith drugs. The doctors already faced similar charges and all three maintained their not guilty pleas.

The district attorney blamed a clerical omission on Stern's previously light charge count. In addition to the original charges, he now faces four counts of obtaining fraudulent prescriptions and one cout of prescribing, adminstering or dispensing controlled substances to an addict.

"I think that the case against Howard K. Stern is weak because they are holding him responsible for medical decisions made," Stern's attorney, Steven Sadow told E! News after the hearing. "[He] is not a doctor—he was relying on the doctors that were treating Anna. Excessiveness is in the eyes of the beholder."

All three are due back for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 5.

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This latest round of Anna Nicole Smith death allegations just got a bit more interesting...and salacious.

Photos of the model naked in a bathtub with her shrink, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich—the one whose name was on all 11 medications found in Smith's room at the time of her death—were discovered on a computer. Needless to say, these "various intimate embraces," as the court docs put it, don't exactly fit with a proper doctor-patient relationship.

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As a quarterback, Tom Brady has to operate out of the shotgun to avoid blitzers. His and Gisele Bündchen's bodyguards, it's alleged, like operating shotguns to avoid paparazzi.

The picture-perfect twosome have been tagged with a federal lawsuit by a couple of shutterbugs who claim they came under fire while attempting to cover the couple's April wedding celebration in Costa Rica.

Echoing allegations made at the time of the soiree, photographers Yuri Cortes and Rolando Aviles claim in their negligence lawsuit that they were shaken down by the couple's security detail. After managing to escape, the photographers fled in their SUV. That's when the guards allegedly began firing guns, which blew out the back window and "narrowly missed striking" the photogs, per the suit.

The photographers and their fellow plaintiff, the Agence France-Presse wire service, are seeking at least $1 million in damages.

Reps for the Patriots' star quarterback and the runway star, who are expecting their first child in December, declined to comment.

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Tom and Gisele aren't the only celebs to go forth and multiply. Check out our Baby Bumpin' photo gallery.

Are there no new ideas in Hollywood anymore? Not if you're a potential plaintiff with an itchy trigger finger.

And that finger is now pointed at Fergie.

Like those British blokes before her, the Black Eyed Pea has been sued for allegedly stealing a song. This time Grounded Music claims Fergie's "Voodoo Doll" blatantly rips off a nearly decade-old reggae song no one's heard of (or at least didn't know they'd heard of until now), "Waterfall" by Groundation.

The latter song was recorded in 2000, six years prior to Fergie's tune. The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday and which also ropes in EMI and producer Will.i.am, alleges that Fergie's track "is substantially and strikingly similar" to the earlier ditty.

"Groundation's interest has solely been, and will continue to be, to create and promulgate conscious, positive music," the group said. "Groundation seeks a swift and just resolution to this issue and we wish the best for all parties involved."

Grounded Music, which holds the copyright to Groundation's song, is seeking unspecified damages and is requesting a trial by jury.

Compare the tunes and give your own verdict:

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