courthouse (12 posts)

Denise Truscello/WireImage.com, Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

Welcome to the justice system's new nightmare.

Pauly Shore has filed a motion in L.A. Superior Court opposing horror meister Wes Craven's request to have the Jury Duty star's lawsuit over damage to his Hollywood Hills property dismissed.

Craven sued Shore last summer, claiming the funnyish-man failed to take neighborly precautions while renovating his backyard in 2006 and that runoff from Shore's new pool and spa contributed to slope failure in his yard.

Shore countersued in February, alleging the Nightmare on Elm Street director didn't properly maintain his own hillside vegetation and landscaping, thereby causing a landslide on Shore's lot in December 2006.

Craven subsequently claimed Shore waited too long to file suit, and now the actor has responded by arguing that he didn't know the root of the outdoor evil until he had his and Craven's respective properties inspected and tested. Then, he says, he took action right away.

A hearing on Craven's motion to dismiss is set for May 28. Otherwise, both cases are scheduled to go to trial Oct. 15.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

R. Kelly's alleged skeletons may remain trapped in the closet a bit longer.

The judge overseeing the R&B star's kiddie-porn case has rejected another legal challenge by news outlets to unseal court documents and transcripts from hearings held last month.

The motion, jointly filed by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, the city's public radio station WBEZ and the Associated Press, sought to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the closed-door proceedings.

However, Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan issued a ruling denying access, claiming it would help to ensure Kelly gets a fair trial and also protect the identity and privacy of the singer's supposedly underage costar in a sex video.

"Time and again, it has been made clear that closure is necessary to protect the minor victim and the defendant's right to a fair trial by ensuring the jury will not be exposed to inadmissible or highly prejudice[d] evidence," wrote Gaughan.

While he's all for a free press, the judge said he will postpone releasing such records until a more appropriate time—like the end of the trial. Though he did throw media outlets a bone, a copy of the jury questionnaire that potential jurors had to fill out.

After three days of wrangling over the racial profile of prospective panelists, the prosecution and defense finally seated on Thursday a 12-person jury made up of eight white and four black people. Opening statements kick off next Tuesday.

Michael Hickey/WireImage.com

Forget her heart, Taylor Dayne is going to tell it to her judge.

The pop star, who broke through to the masses with 1988's particularly dated "Tell It to My Heart," was arrested on a misdemeanor DUI charge in Beverly Hills earlier this year after failing a field sobriety test.

Just after 1 a.m. on March 6, the 46-year-old singer, whose real name is Leslie Wunderman, was taken into custody by Beverly Hills' finest and held for seven hours before ultimately being released on $5,000 bail.

While it's unclear why she was pulled over and tested in the first place, her attorney adamantly denies any excessive imbibing on his client's behalf.

"We intend to vigorously defend this case," lawyer Scott Spindel said. "Her blood alcohol was below the legal limit."

Dayne pleaded not guilty to the charge on April 16 and is due back in court on June 2. She's expected to be roundly forgotten again shortly after that.

DMX is maintaining his innocence. He could stand to wind his watch, though.

During a brief hearing Thursday to which he arrived late, the actor-rapper pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of animal cruelty and drug possession stemming from a months-long investigation into reports of pit bull abuse at his Phoenix-area residence and a subsequent search of his home.

The seven dog-related charges are misdemeanors, while the four drug counts—three of which stem from a raid at DMX's home in August and another from marijuana allegedly found at the scene during another search last week—are felonies.

The Cradle 2 the Grave star, whose real name is Earl Simmons, is accused of mistreating 12 pit bulls found on his property last summer, which, according to the Maricopa County sheriff's office, had to be given emergency veterinary treatment for malnutrition and dehydration.

Another five puppies were confiscated during the cops' most recent trip to DMX's house, as well.

AP Photo/Kim D. Johnson

Not surprisingly, Rob Lowe wants to cut the competition down to size.

The actor and his wife, Sheryl, have filed a motion to dismiss the majority of the 12-count lawsuit brought against them by their former nanny Jessica Gibson, who worked for them on and off over the past six and a half years. (View the motion.)

(Not to be confused with the sexual-harassment suit filed by Laura Boyce, another ex-babysitter.)

The Lowes are looking to have a judge toss out causes of action 4 through 12 of Gibson's suit, including a charge of retaliation and claims that she's owed back wages, as well as payment for overtime, "off-the-clock work" and meal periods.

"The pleading is defective because Gibson fails to state facts sufficient to constitute" all of the above, states the Lowes' notice of demurrer (aka, motion to dismiss).

The couple—who are also suing Gibson, Boyce and their former private chef for breach-of-contract—claim Gibson shot her own case in the foot by admitting last month that her onetime employers cut her a check for regular wages earned and overtime.

Gibson has also alleged sexual assault, battery and harassment, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Both sides argued heatedly, played the race card and ultimately stifled their true feelings so they wouldn't be thrown out of court. Sounds as if we've got ourselves a jury!

Indeed, an eight-man, four-woman jury was seated today for R. Kelly's years-in-the-making trial on child-pornography charges.

Not that this part was easy, either. Over the past week, Kelly's team has argued that the prosecution was trying whitewash the jury, with its last objection coming today as the opposing side used its final two peremptory challenges (the right to dismiss a person without giving a reason) to boot a black man and an Asian woman from the panel.

Meanwhile, prosecutors pointed out to Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan that the defense used all six of its peremptory challenges on white people.

Ultimately, when all was said and huffed over, the jury consisted of eight white and four black people, while two blacks, one Hispanic and one white person were chosen as alternates.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin Tuesday morning.

Lionsgate Films

It's really hard to keep track of all the lawsuits that sprung from the loins of Crash, the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Picture, but at least another one has been relegated to the annals of Hollywood history.

Financier Bob Yari, who due to Industry rules was removed as a coproducer on the film, has reached a tentative settlement with the law firm that represented him in two Crash-related suits and then hit him up for nearly $400,000 in fees.

Legal eagles for the firm of Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro filed a motion to dismiss Monday.

Details of the proposed deal were not made available. Yari hired the firm in 2006 when he sued the Producers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to challenge the loss of his production credit. (A judge dismissed the complaint in January 2007.)

The firm fought for Yari again when Crash producers Cathy Schulman (who along with director Paul Haggis did accept a statuette in the film's honor) and Tom Nunan sued him for allegedly withholding profits, and again when Yari sued them for supposedly failing to reimburse him for various investments. All of this back-and-forth litigation is scheduled to go to trial June 30.

Obviously, someone's taking Crash's tangled-web metaphor way too seriously.

Nick Ut/AP photo, Lester Cohen/WireImage.com, Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

The private eye to the stars is going to be orbiting a prison cell, possibly for the rest of his life.

After deliberating for nearly two weeks, a Los Angeles jury today convicted Anthony Pellicano of a slew of charges for using illegal means to pry into the lives of and dig up dirt on such Hollywood heavies as Sylvester Stallone and Garry Shandling.

Pellicano was found guilty of 76 counts and could face hundreds of years behind bars when sentenced in September. His four codefendants, including a police sergeant and former telephone company employee, were also convicted on a variety of charges.

As the verdict was read, the 64-year-old Pellicano, who represented himself, exhibited little emotion.

Government lawyers alleged the celebrity sleuth illegally accessed police and telephone-company databases to run unauthorized checks on the likes of Shandling, Kevin Nealon and Keith Carradine and bugged the phones of Stallone and others for information the P.I.'s clients could use in legal proceedings.

Shandling had a starring role in the trial, telling jurors that he was shaken after learning his records were searched by Pellicano, apparently to gain leverage in a lawsuit between Shandling and former manager Brad Grey, now the chairman of Paramount Pictures.

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FAME PICTURES

Madonna's on-again, off-again relationship with the Malawi legal system is, for the time being, off-again.

The final ruling in her and Guy Ritchie's adoption of David Banda was expected to be rubber-stamped by the Lilongwe High Court today, but the hearing was once again delayed, though not, in a refreshing break from tradition, by request of the singer herself.

Although the Ritchies were not present for the hearing—an attorney for the couple confirmed earlier this week that both stars would be a no-show due to "other engagements"—the Malawian Human Rights Commission was present and accounted for in the form of a protest report lodged with the court.

Upon receiving the nonbinding filing, which called out various "shortcomings" in the nation's adoption laws and argued that approving the adoption would be illegal as would-be parents must reside in Malawi for at least 18 months, the judge postponed his final ruling until next week, pending his review of the document.

Madonna's attorney, meanwhile, is still expecting a positive ruling next week from the judge, telling reporters, "I'm confident that the adoption will go through, because my client has met all the requirements and the government is satisfied that she qualifies."

And if they need any more convincing, a few advance record copies and a handful of backstage passes are surely the best qualifications around.

Denise Truscello/WireImage.com

Men in Trees has gone the way of the dodo. Unfortunately, Anne Heche's cash supply seems to be nearing extinction, as well.

After Heche claimed she'll be more than $6,000 in the hole if she's required to shell out any more money, a judge on Wednesday granted the actress' request to suspend child and spousal support payments to ex-husband Coley Laffoon for the month of July, according to court documents obtained by E! News. (View the docs.)

And this apparently isn't sour grapes on the divorcée's part.

Per a declaration filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, Heche is $364,000 in debt—mainly due to her ongoing divorce litigation—and had only $34,840.93 in all of her accounts as of Tuesday.

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Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com

Keanu Reeves is hoping to keep his latest project out of wide release.

Lawyers for the 43-year-old actor are asking a Los Angeles judge to keep any videotaped deposition of Reeves under wraps.

The Matrix star is facing a suit from paparazzo Alison Silva, who says he was purposefully knocked down by Reeves' Porsche last November, resulting in "serious injuries" that caused pain and suffering and severely limited the photog's earnings capacity. Silva is seeking unspecified damages and his counsel wants to depose Reeves to prove allegations of negligence, assault and battery.

The thesp's lawyer, David J. Ozeran, filed a motion with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elizabeth A. Grimes to keep both the deposition and transcripts away out of public view, fearing it would be an unexcellent adventure for the Bill & Ted player.

"If obtained by the media, the videotape will undoubtedly by analyzed frame by frame in an attempt to embarrass Mr. Reeves," the petition states. "Similarly, the transcript of the deposition will be analyzed line by line for any embarrassing or awkward response or misstatement on the part of Mr. Reeves."

Before being hired by Reeves, Ozeran's firm successfully won a court order sealing a Lindsay Lohan's deposition in a suit brought by a busboy after a traffic mishap. The actress wound up settling before she could be deposed.

INFDaily.com

Keeping up with the Kardashians may be a pricey proposition, but not, the famous siblings want to make clear, that pricey.

Kim Kardashian and the rest of her reality-TV relatives have lashed out at allegations slung by her former employer—and, making things trickier, her ex-boyfriend's mother—Sonja Norwood, denying in papers filed in response to Brandy's mom's lawsuit that they improperly rang up $120,000 in unauthorized charges while Kim worked as a stylist for the brood.

In court papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the Kardashians "deny generally and specifically each and every allegation." (View the court docs.)

In addition to Kim, Sonja Norwood's lawsuit also names Khloe, Kourtney and Robert Kardsahian Jr. Norwood says she had given Kim an American Express account to cover incidentals, only to have Kim share the credit card number with her siblings, who proceeded to ring up exorbitant charges between 2006 and 2007.

Kim was enlisted as a stylist for Brandy back in 2004, when Kardashian was dating—and making videos with—the singer's brother, Ray J. Norwood is seeking the total return of the money, along with 10 percent interest.

The request is somewhat ironic, given that interest, at least as far as the public is concerned, is rapidly dwindling in this case.