A Sequel to the Case of O’Connor Son’s Suicide

The memories linger of actor Carroll O’Connor’s public grief over his only son’s 1995 suicide. Now, they’re about to be stirred up again by another courtroom drama as the tragedy continues.

O’Connor and the man he holds responsible for his son’s suicide will come face to face this week in a Los Angeles courtroom. This time, Harry Perzigian is the one making the accusations. He is suing O’Connor for slander.

The star, best known for his role as the politically incorrect Archie Bunker in the 1970s hit show “All in the Family,” mounted a highly publicized crusade against Perzigian, which resulted in the Brentwood man’s conviction last year on charges of supplying cocaine to Hugh O’Connor. Perzigian, now 40, has served his time.

Now he is seeking damages from O’Connor for infliction of emotional distress.

At issue is O’Connor’s statement on a television news magazine that Perzigian was “a partner in murder,” court papers say.

Jury selection begins Monday, and Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey has agreed to let the trial be televised on Court TV.

According to court records, O’Connor plans to invoke his constitutionally protected free speech rights and to assert that his statements about Perzigian are not false, and therefore not slanderous.

“To show the reasonable basis for his belief that [Perzigian] supplied cocaine to Hugh O’Connor that led to the suicide,” court papers say, O’Connor will testify, as will his wife, daughter-in-law and others, that several people identified Perzigian as his son’s drug supplier.

Defense testimony will focus on O’Connor’s descent into drug addiction, delusions and paranoia. “Cocaine addiction had alienated him from his wife, his child, his parents, and ultimately his sanity,” attorney Lucy N. Inman said in court papers.

Perzigian’s lawyers say they can show that others supplied drugs to Hugh O’Connor, who shot himself to death March 28, 1995.

O’Connor’s wrongful death suit against Perzigian was dismissed in April because it had been filed too late.

COMING TO A COURTROOM NEAR YOU: You’re being sued for $50 million for allegedly walking off the set over creative differences. You need an expert witness. Who to call?

John Travolta called Dustin Hoffman.

Hoffman, court papers say, is uniquely qualified to address issues such as “the working relationship between directors and actors” and the “significance of the director’s vision of the film.”

Hoffman’s deposition was taken Thursday by attorneys for the plaintiffs, Liteoffer Ltd. and Mandalay Entertainment, who sued Travolta a year ago after he left the Paris set of the Roman Polanski film “The Double.” Although rumors of a settlement swirled last week, they were premature, according to lawyers for both sides. Some parties had agreed to settle the case by having Travolta, who was to have been paid $17 million, star in another movie. But Travolta’s lawyer, Bert Fields, said the deal was killed at the corporate level.

Travolta claims in court papers that he had not reached a final agreement to appear in the film and left before filming began when the character he had agreed to play was rewritten.

Superior Court Judge Kurt Lewin has called everyone back to court Tuesday to discuss the trial, now set to begin July 21.

REPORTS OF HIS DEATH WERE PREMATURE: Despite assertions made in probate court documents that the biological father of Tupac Shakur was dead, a New Jersey truck driver has come forward to prove that he is very much alive. And DNA tests indicate--to a 99.97% certainty--that William Garland is indeed the biological father of slain rap icon Tupac Shakur.

Whether or not Garland can make a valid claim as heir to Shakur’s estate will be the key issue of a trial slated to begin in Superior Court on Aug. 4.

Superior Court Judge Arnold Gold last week refused to throw out Garland’s contention that he deserves half of Shakur’s estate, even though he was out of touch with his rapper/actor son during 15 of Shakur’s 25 years. Shakur’s mother, Afeni Shakur, says the father should get what he gave his son--nothing.

But Garland’s lawyer, Mitchell Reinis, argued that his client cared for his son when he was young, invited him for sleepovers with his other children and sent young Shakur’s mother cash, even though they never married. Garland tried several times over the years to contact his son, but wasn’t successful until he was able to visit Shakur in jail in 1991, Reinis said. At the trial, Garland will have to prove that he acknowledged Shakur as his son while he was alive, and that he supported or cared for his son at some point in his life.

Afeni Shakur’s lawyers in New York declined comment.

The father’s case is just one of many legal wranglings over the slain rapper’s estate, which is estimated to be worth millions, or nothing at all, depending on who’s doing the estimating.

COURTROOM QUICKIE: On one side of the courtroom were a former Olympic diver, two cops and their lawyer. On the other side, a couple of empty chairs.

“Is anyone appearing on behalf of the defendant, Heidi Fleiss?” Superior Court Judge Arnold Gold asked. “Nope,” the judge said, answering his own question.

Fleiss had fired her lawyers in the civil slander case earlier this year, and filed documents saying she would represent herself. But she has been otherwise engaged--as an inmate at a federal prison in Dublin, near Oakland.

Gold agreed to hold a trial in absentia after Fleiss failed to keep in touch with the court.

In just half an hour, it was over except for the verdict. The case is now in the judge’s hands. Gold will decide whether the “Hollywood Madam” must pay $450,000 in damages to diving coach Sammy Lee and Officers Samuel Lee II and Patricia Corso for saying nasty things about their sexual proclivities on the radio show “Love Line.”

The three sued Fleiss a year ago, saying she had falsely labeled them as sexual deviants. The officers, one from Los Angeles, the other from Beverly Hills, had been involved in Fleiss’ 1993 arrest.

Fleiss is serving a three-year sentence for tax evasion.

Robert Thompson, attorney for the plaintiffs, set a personal record with a four-minute opening statement and 12 minutes of witness questions.

NO ACCIDENT: The man sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for murdering model Linda Sobek was sued last week by his insurance company, which doesn’t want to pay to defend him in a wrongful death suit filed by the victim’s family.

Charles Rathbun initially claimed that he had struck the woman by accident with a Lexus during a photo shoot, but attorneys for State Farm are asking a judge for an order saying the carrier doesn’t have to defend him. Rathbun’s insurance policy for his 1988 Isuzu Trooper included coverage for cars he did not own.

Rathbun was convicted last year of the Nov. 16, 1995, sexual assault-murder of the former Raiders cheerleader. Her parents sued the freelance photographer a month later.

State Farm claims that testimony during the criminal trial showed that the car did not cause Sobek’s death.

A State Farm spokesman declined comment.

AWAITING POISON’S PEN: Bret Michaels, lead singer of the ‘80s glam rock group Poison, is within a well-moussed hair of settling his $20-million lawsuit against Capitol Records, his lawyer says.

All that’s left is a signed deal. Although terms of the settlement are confidential, attorney Edwin McPherson said Michaels has been released from Capitol, and will be producing his upcoming solo album on his own label, Poorboy Records.

Michaels had claimed that Capitol owed him for four solo albums, which were never produced. Capitol counter-sued, demanding repayment of a $250,000 advance.

Michaels claims he signed a contract with Capitol in August 1991 for $1 million per album. He received several extensions, but, the company contended in court papers, Michaels didn’t commit to an album until late 1995, after the bloom of Poison’s popularity had faded.

Michaels also has formed a film production company with bad-boy actor Charlie Sheen, and has a film due for fall release.

The lawyer for Capitol could not be reached for comment.