An Entertaining Way to Pump Up the Economy

An entertainment lawyer for some of Hollywood’s biggest names takes on the state economy; Tupac Shakur leaves behind a long legal legacy; and the German Frank Sinatra invites himself over for a drink.

IT’S THE ECONOMY, COUNSELOR: His famous clients could create their own sub-economy: Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, George Clooney and Milos Forman, to name a few. So it seemed only fitting that Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer Bruce M. Ramer was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson to something called the Economic Strategy Panel.

The panel’s tasks include holding public hearings on the state’s economy and its prospects for future prosperity, as well as sniffing out emerging industries and gauging the effectiveness of economic development programs.

Ramer, who will not be paid a salary for his work on the panel, has been named in the National Law Journal’s past two lists of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.”

He heads the board of directors of the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood and serves on the boards of KCET and the Home Shopping Network.

Ramer, an entertainment lawyer for 30 years, is also the executive director of the Entertainment Law Institute at the USC School of Law.

“I’m honored and privileged to serve on the panel,” Ramer said. “It’s our task, as I understand it, to help develop a strategic plan for the enhancement of California’s economy. The entertainment industry has been and undoubtedly will remain a major economic force in California.”

TUPAC’S LEGACY: Speaking of economic development, the legal tangle that is the legacy of slain actor/rapper Tupac Shakur might as well be called the “Attorneys Full Employment Act.”

Shakur, gunned down at the age of 25 in Las Vegas a year ago today, left no will, but his estate is the subject of litigation involving dozens upon dozens of lawyers and claims totaling millions upon millions of dollars.

At the center of the legal storm is New York lawyer Rick Fischbein, who with Shakur’s mother, Afeni, is co-executor of the estate.

Among the legal battles swirling around the estate:

* Afeni Shakur and a New Jersey trucker who was Tupac’s biological father are locked in a probate dispute that resumes this week in Los Angeles Superior Court. The trucker, William Garland, figuratively came back from the dead to stake his claim as one of Tupac’s heirs after Afeni declared in court papers that her son’s father was deceased.

She, meanwhile, said Garland deserves nothing because his contributions to his boy’s upbringing included little more than a bag of peanuts and a couple of sleepovers. Garland says she kept him from seeing the boy for years.

* A claim to collect a $16.6-million award in an Arkansas court was recently filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Jacquelyn McNealey, who was shot and partially paralyzed at a 1993 Shakur concert, won the judgment in November 1996.

“Shakur, during his performance, taunted and challenged” rival gang members in the audience and “whipped the crowd into a hysterical frenzy causing a riot-like atmosphere,” the lawsuit alleged.

“None of the judgment has been paid, and the entire amount is due and owed by the estate,” it said.

The estate is appealing the Arkansas judgment. Meanwhile, what further proof is needed that the late Tupac’s legal affairs have spawned a cottage industry than the signatures of the 17 lawyers reportedly gracing the Arkansas court files?

* Death Row Records has quietly turned over the master recordings of Shakur’s unreleased music--about 150 songs with an estimated retail value of $100 million--to his mother. Capping months of negotiations, Death Row owner Marion “Suge” Knight recently signed off on a settlement from his prison cell, according to sources.

The label also alleged in the suit that the estate owes more than $7 million in advances for cars, houses, jewelry, travel and other expenses.

In a countersuit, the estate charged that Death Row looted $50 million from Shakur to pay for the extravagant lifestyles of Knight and others.

* Rap foe C. Delores Tucker sued the estate in federal court in Philadelphia this summer for $10 million in damages, charging that unflattering lyrics about her had a negative impact on her marital life. Tucker, who heads the National Political Congress of Black Women in Washington, launched her anti-rap campaign in 1994 with former U.S. drug czar William Bennett.

* The estate won a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles to gain merchandising rights to Shakur’s image after his death.

Shakur’s bank account contained $150,000 when he died Sept. 13, 1996, six days after he was shot while riding in Knight’s car on the Las Vegas Strip.

MEIN WAY: Actor Harald Juhnke is known as “the German Frank Sinatra”--the most famous entertainer in his homeland. But a Massachusetts couple charged in a $1-million lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court that he was the drunken, assaultive boor who invited himself to their table as they dined at the trendy Mondrian Hotel in February.

Hotel guests Susan Thaler and Robert Treisman were enjoying supper at the hotel about 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, “when they noticed a visibly intoxicated Juhnke staggering toward their table,” said the suit, which added that Juhnke said he wanted to join the couple for a drink. The suit asserted that they politely said no, and Juhnke headed toward the bar. Apparently reinforced, he returned and invited himself to join them once again, more aggressively and insistently, the suit alleges.

Treisman ordered restaurant employees to eject the drunk man and to notify hotel security, but because Juhnke seemed to be well known to the staff, no one did, according to the suit.

“After ordering another drink, Juhnke again returned to the [couple’s] table” and when they again asked him to leave, he became “visibly hostile and began pounding his fist repeatedly on the table and yelling in German,” the suit said.

During the fracas, Juhnke allegedly grabbed Thaler by the neck, the suit stated. Later, Juhnke’s agent grabbed her by the arm, according to the complaint. Lawyer Bryan Freedman said the hotel had a legal duty to protect the couple from rude or violent guests.

Although the couple insisted again on Juhnke’s ejection from the hotel, employees said they would take him to his room instead. Later, the suit alleged, Juhnke was seen bothering others in the same area.

The couple, who are engaged to be married, are seeking $1 million in damages from Juhnke and the hotel’s owners. Although the incident barely registered here, it was big news in Europe, where Juhnke’s drinking escapades are nearly as famous as his singing and acting.

The hotel’s New York publicist did not return phone calls. Juhnke could not be reached for comment.

Times staff writer Chuck Philips contributed to this column.