Woman Sues Airline Over Dogfight in the Sky

You might remember Beverly Hills widow Marcelle Becker, who is alleging that an American Airlines pilot tied her up with a dog leash after a tussle over her escaped Maltese named Dom Perignon during a cross-country flight two years ago.

Becker’s suit against the airline is set for trial Sept. 15, and she has hired a publicist to help search for passengers who witnessed the scuffle on July 6, 1995, aboard Flight 19 from New York to Los Angeles.

Becker, the widow of the late insurance magnate Martin Becker, had purchased a first-class seat for Dom Perignon, who weighed 8 pounds, and brought the dog aboard the plane in a Louis Vuitton carrier.

She alleged that the trouble began when a flight attendant kicked the dog’s carrier under the seat during preparations for takeoff. Later, Becker placed the carrier, complete with crying canine, back on the seat. While she was taking a nap, little Dom got out of the carrier, which had a broken zipper.

The staff alleged in court records that Becker was a first-class pain and became obstreperous when she was told to stow her pet. Also, while Becker claimed that her Maltese was wagging his tail, the flight staff contended that he seemed ready to bite.

Becker alleged that the airline’s staff abused her and Dom Perignon, leaving her covered with bruises and the tiny dog suffering stress and injuries that later proved fatal.

“Anyone who was on the plane who loves animals as I loved my dog, and who understands the grief I feel at the loss of my pet, will make themselves known,” said Becker.

In particular, Becker said she is hoping to find a little girl who was on the flights both to and from New York. The child played with Dom Perignon en route to the East, Becker said, and witnessed the confrontation on the return leg. Becker also is seeking a middle-age man who she said tried to intervene during the fracas.

A spokesman for the airline had no comment.

“My doggie died as a result of this,” Becker said.

*

TIME FOR WAPNER: When Doug Llewelyn, the erstwhile host of “The People’s Court,” felt cheated by two former co-workers, he didn’t take the law into his own hands. He took the women to court.

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Llewelyn contended that he has not received his share of the $8,500-a-week proceeds from the syndicated “Judge Judy” television show. Llewelyn named the Judge Joseph Wapner show’s former associate director, Kaye Switzer, and researcher Sandi Spreckman as defendants in the suit alleging breach of contract, fraud and other wrongs.

Llewelyn, who lives in North Carolina, claims in his lawsuit that he helped dream up the idea for the “Judge Judy” series featuring spunky New York jurist Judith Sheindlin. Like Wapner, Judge Judy dispenses justice in small claims court in half-hour nuggets.

Llewelyn said in the lawsuit that he was employed in Los Angeles as a syndicated television correspondent covering the O.J. Simpson trial when he and his former colleagues agreed to work together on a treatment for a new television series.

They sold the idea to Big Ticket Productions, which was not named in the suit. Llewelyn alleged, according to court documents, that he hasn’t seen a cent, while Switzer and Spreckman have been getting paid since May 1995. The women could not be located, and a producer at the “Judge Judy” show did not return phone calls. Llewelyn’s lawyer, Charles K. Wake, declined comment.

If Llewelyn learned anything from his years at “The People’s Court,” we are sure he has followed Wapner’s advice and saved all his receipts and documents.

A $475,000 PERSONALITY CONFLICT? A well-known screenwriter, claiming he was replaced on a film project because actor / producer Warren Beatty didn’t like him, has sued Beatty and 20th Century Fox for $475,000 he said he is owed for the work he performed.

Aaron Sorkin alleged in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that he was paid $225,000 of a $700,000 contract for work on an untitled film the suit referred to as “The Bulworth Project.” The screenwriter was 30 when he burst on the scene with “A Few Good Men.” He also wrote “The American President,” which starred Beatty’s wife, Annette Bening.

The suit did not disclose why Beatty would dislike the writer, and the nature of their differences could not be learned.

The writer claimed Fox deferred to Beatty, who decided to use a different writer because of his allegedly “irrational, incomprehensible and unwarranted personal animus and hostile feelings toward Sorkin.”

Beatty declined comment.

Sorkin alleged breach of contract and intentional interference with contractual relations. He wants the $475,000--plus interest, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.

*

CLOSURE? NEVER: Harry Perzigian, the songwriter who spent a night in jail during his unsuccessful slander suit against actor Carroll O’Connor, pleaded no contest in West Los Angeles Municipal Court to drunk driving.

Commissioner Joseph Biderman placed Perzigian, 41, on probation for three years and ordered him to pay a $390 fine. His driver’s license was restricted and he was ordered to attend an alcohol education program for three months, Deputy City Atty. Larry Webster said.

Perzigian was taken into custody during the O’Connor trial in connection with a bench warrant issued in the drunk-driving case. It stemmed from an accident in which Perzigian rear-ended another car at Barrington and Montana avenues at 6:05 p.m. on June 3.

He said he foolishly got in his car after his girlfriend called and asked for help with a sick dog.

Perzigian blew a 0.12 on a device called an Intoxolizer, authorities say. It is against the law to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or above.

“It was my first DUI,” Perzigian said. “I was under a lot of stress and had a lot of eyes on me, so I couldn’t get away with much. Oh well, life goes on.”

The Superior Court judge who issued the warrant also ordered Perzigian to spend 10 days on a Caltrans cleanup crew, Perzigian said.

*

LIVING LARGE: Our head still is swimming over Death Row Records’ $1.67-million American Express bill. Now comes another suit alleging that the label racked up $1.25 million in unpaid jewelry bills.

Invoices attached to a suit filed by jeweler Brian Lemberger and his B.L. Diamonds against the label and its accountants list a mind-boggling array of baubles and trinkets--diamond studs, pinkie rings, pendants and Rolex watches. Consider these little tokens of generosity: a $14,000 diamond stud earring for Snoop Doggy Dogg; a $24,700 pair of diamond earrings for Death Row owner Marion “Suge” Knight’s mother; a $4,000 diamond Rolex watch and various trinkets for the late Tupac Shakur; and 1,100 gold pendants for attendees of the label’s 1996 Mother’s Day brunch.

The suit alleged that based on the stellar reputation of Death Row’s boutique accounting firm--Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman--Lemberger permitted the label to charge up the huge bill in 1996. He still awaits payment, the suit said.

“This case arises from the intentional manipulation and exploitation of an overmatched businessman by a combination of members of one of the world’s most powerful accounting conglomerates and performers and other participants in the secretive and protective rap music industry,” the suit said.

Death Row’s accountant, Steven Cantrock, was forced to resign in January after admitting he had mismanaged the Death Row account, the suit stated. He could not be located.

The accounting firm is a subsidiary of Coopers & Lybrand.

“There’s no substance to the charges with regard to Gelfand,” said a spokesman at Coopers & Lybrand’s headquarters in New York.

*

SAME OLD SONG?: A struggling songwriter who said he met Trent Reznor, lead singer of Nine Inch Nails, in an online chat room, claimed in a lawsuit that Reznor stole six songs from him, including one used on the soundtrack for the film “Natural Born Killers.”

Mark Nicholas Onofrio contended in a copyright infringement suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that he e-mailed Reznor in January 1993 and asked him to listen to his demo for an album he called “Elephant Man.” Reznor agreed, Onofrio said in the suit, so he immediately sent the demo via Federal Express to Reznor’s home.

Onofrio alleged he never heard back from Reznor.

A spokeswoman for Nine Inch Nails said the band and its representatives have not seen the suit and therefore can’t comment.

According to the suit, songs Onofrio wrote and registered were “strikingly similar” to songs that turned up on Nine Inch Nails’ 1994 album “Downward Spiral”--”Closer,” “Mr. Self-Destruct,” “March of Pigs,” “Hurt” and “Downward Spiral.”

In addition, Onofrio claimed he wrote a song called “This Hell” that was similar to a song called “Burn,” used on the soundtrack for “Natural Born Killers.”

Lawyer Michael Blaha said his client apparently provided the cure for Reznor’s writer’s block. “He basically, in our minds, took my client’s demo and manipulated some of the compositions. If you speed up one of the songs, it’s almost a carbon copy.”