Celebrity Status Made Him Lawsuit Target, Actor Says
Actor Michael J. Fox said Tuesday that he believes a woman who purchased his former Studio City home targeted him for a lawsuit because he is a celebrity.
“It kind of came down to what I expected all along--that a celebrity was targeted,” Fox said in an interview from his Beverly Hills hotel room following closing arguments in the case Tuesday.
Michele Ader filed suit against Fox, his business manager, Robert Philpott, the Jon Douglas Co. and agents Bettina Linke and Marie Gray over repairs and landscaping to a $750,000 house she bought from the movie star, which is nestled in the mountains between Mulholland Drive and Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Philpott, the Jon Douglas Co. and its agents were subsequently dismissed as defendants in the lawsuit, leaving Fox as the lone defendant.
Drew Pomerance, an attorney representing Ader, told jurors during closing statements that Fox “passed the buck” on the sale of the home to his representatives because he was busy making movies.
“I resent the implications that because he was filming a movie he didn’t have time to deal with the contract,” Pomerance said. “The bottom line was he didn’t care. It meant nothing to Fox.”
Pomerance also alleged that Fox and his representatives “ganged up” on Ader because the actor’s real estate agent, Bettina Linke, wanted to find a buyer who would offer more money for the home, which had an initial asking price of $1 million. Pomerance asked jurors to award Ader more than $325,000--which is nearly half the $750,000 selling price--to replace 14 cypress trees and other landscaping and to repair a damaged pool, a leaky roof and a potential problem with the home’s foundation. Ader is also seeking an undisclosed amount in punitive damages.
Fox’s attorney, Scott C. Haith, told jurors that his client should not be found liable for the cost of replacing the cypress trees because they died of natural causes when they were blown over in a windstorm. Haith told jurors that Ader failed to prove during the trial that the trees died because they were diseased and that Fox had knowledge of their poor condition.
“Michael has denied and continues to deny that the trees were diseased and were dying,” Haith said.
Haith also reminded jurors that Ader failed to produce receipts for work she had performed on the swimming pool and that her estimates for damages to the home’s roof were made by a general contractor instead of a specialist.
The attorney also said that Fox’s liability is limited to the difference between what Ader paid for the house and its value at the close of escrow. Haith said Ader failed to present evidence that the property was worth less at the close of escrow and hence is due nothing.
A defense expert testified that the house is now worth more than what Ader paid for it.
Superior Court Judge Florence T. Pickard also this week dismissed a countersuit that Fox filed alleging that Ader breached her contract by closing escrow two months after the agreed-upon date of Feb. 15, 1991.
