‘Twilight’ Defendant Sues Over Unpaid Lawyer Bills

Former “Twilight Zone” manslaughter defendant Paul Stewart filed a $12.7-million federal lawsuit Wednesday against Warner Bros. Inc. and others, seeking compensation and punitive damages for the firm’s failure to fully pay his legal fees during the stormy 10-month criminal trial.

The suit also names several Warner Bros. officials and Steven Spielberg, who produced and directed a segment of the 1983 film, with engaging in a conspiracy with the studio to withhold the legal payments.

Special effects coordinator Stewart was acquitted May 29 along with director John Landis and three film-making associates of involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the 1982 film set deaths of actor Vic Morrow, 53, and child actors Renee Chen, 6, and Myca Dinh Lee, 7.

Killed by Helicopter

The three were killed when they were struck by a helicopter that flew out of control after being hit by the fireball of a special effects explosion.

Stewart’s suit, filed by attorney Michael L. Robins, charges that Warner Bros., which distributed the film, “intentionally, maliciously and oppressively failed and refused to indemnify him against the expenses he incurred and losses he sustained . . . in an effort to control . . . Stewart’s conduct and defense in the criminal case and various civil cases.”

The suit also charges that Warner Bros. officials, along with Spielberg, stood to profit financially by not paying the legal fees and also engaged in a “scheme or plan to shift responsibility for said accident to Stewart from Warners.”

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Robins said Warner Bros. “may be very successful financially, but they are morally bankrupt.

“Paul Stewart is a good decent human being, and it distresses him greatly to know his lawyer knocked himself out working 14 to 18 hour days and he can’t pay him for doing it. It isn’t his bill. It’s Warner’s bill.”

$200,000 Paid Out

Unpaid legal bills for Stewart’s criminal attorney, Arnold L. Klein, still total $385,753, according to the suit. Warner Bros. did advance Klein $110,000 in mid-1986 and paid out another $90,000 in the case’s preliminary stages.

The suit also seeks $10 million in punitive damages, $2 million in compensatory damages and payments for trial expenses--including $1,200 for parking and $5,600 for clothing.

Warner Bros. Vice President and General Counsel John A. Schulman, who has participated in the negotiations over legal fees, did not return a call for comment Wednesday.