Next Fight for Baldwin Is in the Courtroom

Round 2 for Alec Baldwin . . . A tragic test case . . . Name dropping . . . Ex Files update.

Are you ready to rumble? In one corner we have actor Alec Baldwin, star of various action films. In the other, paparazzo Alan Zanger, nemesis of various stars.

The two will soon return to a courtroom in Van Nuys to duke it out again, this time at a trial of civil lawsuits they’ve filed against each other. Jury selection begins June 29, according to Baldwin’s lawyer, Philip D. Weiss.

At issue is the infamous scuffle that erupted in October 1995, as Zanger tried to videotape Baldwin bringing wife Kim Basinger and their newborn daughter home from the hospital. As the story goes, the actor confronted Zanger, who was videotaping them from his camper parked outside Basinger’s Woodland Hills home. Baldwin coated the vehicle’s windows with shaving cream, and during the confusion Zanger was hit in the face, either by his camera or by Baldwin, depending on whose version you prefer.

Baldwin won Round 1 in 1996, when a Van Nuys Municipal Court jury cleared him of misdemeanor battery.

He’s being sued by Zanger for assault, loss of income and medical expenses. Baldwin has countered with a suit against Zanger alleging stalking and invasion of privacy.

Weiss said he expects Baldwin, the 40-year-old star of films such as “The Hunt for Red October,” to take the stand, as he did in Municipal Court, where by all accounts he charmed jurors.

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WORKED TO DEATH? The lawsuit over the tragic death of Brent Hershman, the motion picture cameraman who fell asleep at the wheel driving home after a 19-hour workday, has survived its first major legal challenge.

Torrance Superior Court Judge Jean Matusinka denied New Line Cinema’s request to toss out the wrongful death action filed on behalf of Hershman’s widow, Deborah, and the couple’s two children.

Hershman and her attorneys, John A. Lawrence and Kyle P. Kelley, contend that the demands of filming the modestly budgeted “Pleasantville” left her 35-year-old husband too exhausted to drive safely home to West Hills from the Long Beach set. He died early March 6, 1997, after driving into a utility pole along the Century Freeway.

New Line’s attorney, Dennis K. Wheeler, had argued that the company was not responsible for anything that happened after Hershman left work.

The judge found that the case raised legal issues that should be pursued in court.

“It’s an important hurdle we’ve overcome,” Lawrence said. “This is a test case.”

It certainly has struck a chord in Hollywood. After Hershman’s death, co-workers drafted a petition asking for a 14-hour shooting limit on television and film sets. Dubbed “Brent’s Rule,” it received more than 10,000 signatures.

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THE NAME GAME: Name dropping is one thing. But John Travolta and Jim Belushi claim in recent lawsuits filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that some people just take it too far.

Travolta, who plays an attorney in the upcoming film “A Civil Action,” is suing Capital Funding Group and Silverado Films, claiming they used his name without permission in an advertisement hawking company stock in USA Today. He’s seeking an injunction to end the campaign.

Meanwhile, Belushi is suing a pair of production companies--Storm Entertainment and Terence Michael Productions--for allegedly using his name to promote a film project he turned down called “Die Wholesale.”

Undeterred, the producers placed an ad in a trade publication that billed him as the star, the Los Angeles Superior Court suit contends. Belushi is asking for $500,000 in damages--the amount he says he would have demanded had he appeared in “Die Wholesale.”

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THE EX FILES: Irreconcilable differences have come between actor Gary Busey and his wife, Tiani, after 13 months of marriage. Ditto for Suge and Sharitha Knight. Since the founder of Death Row Records is busy serving a nine-year state prison sentence, she’ll get custody of their 5-year-old daughter.

Last but not least, Dudley Moore’s fourth wife has dropped the $10-million assault and defamation suit she filed against him in Santa Monica Superior Court. Attorney Phil Poliner said Nicole Rothschild, who represents herself, recently signed papers dropping her claim. Moore, according to Poliner, intends to go through with a divorce.

Rothschild had charged that Moore choked her, called her an airhead and forced her to dance in her undies for up to 20 hours at a time. He denied the allegations, and filed a restraining order against her in August--a month before he underwent a coronary bypass.

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A REBUTTAL: O.J. Simpson case witness Jill Shively continues to pursue her libel lawsuit against author Joe Bosco, according to her attorney, Monique Hill.