Academy Wants Man to Play No Role at Oscars

An arresting case for Oscar . . . More Doc Hollywood follies . . . Inside Martha Stewart’s brain.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is seeking a restraining order in Los Angeles Superior Court to keep comic Scott Kerman away from this year’s Oscarfest.

Dressed in full tux, the author of the humor book “No Ticket? No Problem!” was arrested the day before last year’s Academy Awards ceremony and jailed overnight on a trespassing charge.

Kerman, 30, who claims to have sneaked into more than 300 events--including the 1996 Academy Awards--is suing the academy in Los Angeles Superior Court for false arrest and harassment.

Although Kerman was carrying a press pass and the criminal charge against him was dismissed, the academy says it takes security issues very seriously.

“If [Kerman] is not enjoined from trespassing at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony, there will be serious security risks for the academy and its guests,” academy attorney David W. Quinto wrote in court papers.

The academy says it even asked Kerman during a deposition whether he planned to sneak into the ceremony. He answered: “I can’t tell you yes or no,” the documents say.

Kerman’s lawyer, Susan Koehler Sullivan, replied in her court papers that if the academy was so worried about her client, it should not have waited until now to seek an injunction.

The academy’s papers revealed that it spends upward of $300,000 on security--employing 90 plainclothes officers and hundreds of security guards--for Oscar night. There’s even a pre-ceremony bomb sweep.

This year’s awards ceremony will take place March 23 at the Shrine Auditorium. A hearing on the restraining order is scheduled Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz.

“Because the Academy Awards is the most televised entertainment event in the world,” academy court documents say, “it is a target for anyone--including terrorists and stalkers wishing to make a statement to a worldwide audience.”

Not to mention attention-seeking comedians.

And the academy explains in its court papers why the moviegoing hoi polloi is not invited:

“The academy is . . . concerned that members of the public might display undue partisanship or boisterousness or otherwise fail to respect decorum while attending the ceremony. Such occurrences detract from the awards presentation, interfere with the telecast and embarrass the academy and its members.”

We’d behave, honest.

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LEGAL HIT PARADE: Westwood One Radio is suing veteran radio personality Casey Kasem for $10 million for allegedly breaking his contract two years early to take a job with a rival network that offered him more money.

The Los Angeles Superior Court suit also names former Westwood One attorney Eric Weiss and rival Chancellor Media Corp. as defendants.

According to court papers, Weiss allegedly used confidential knowledge he gained during his employment there about “how to approach and deal with Kasem, the terms of the exclusivity contract and claims Kasem might use to terminate that contract.”

Weiss also knew how valuable Kasem was to Westwood One, and how profitable his programs were, the suit states.

The attorney then approached Kasem and struck a deal with Chancellor after telling the rival network how much Kasem was being paid, the suit contends.

The defection of the 35-year radio veteran, whose “American Hit Parade” top 10 countdown has been a pop culture fixture for decades, “created doubt in the industry” about Westwood One, the suit says.

The suit alleges that Weiss breached his fiduciary duty to Westwood One, a syndicator of radio programs, by disclosing confidential information that was used to lure Kasem away.

Westwood One also seeks an injunction to enforce the final two years of its contract with Kasem.

Attorney Bert Fields, who represents Westwood One, said a hearing should be scheduled this week.

Kasem’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, called the suit frivolous, adding that his client exercised an escape clause in his contract when Westwood One lost “substantial markets,” including Los Angeles and New York.

Weiss could not be reached for comment.

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ANOTHER DOC HOLLYWOOD SUIT: Will the legal war between plastic surgeon Steven “Doc Hollywood” Hoefflin and a former colleague extend into the Bunny grotto?

Carrie Leigh, former first lady of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion, is suing Hoefflin for defamation, claiming he tried to undermine her credibility as a witness before the Medical Board of California.

She seeks $10 million in damages from Hoefflin, a former friend. In an interview she said she had referred many a Bunny to the man known as plastic surgeon to the stars.

According to the suit, filed in Superior Court in Santa Monica, Hoefflin and others mounted a smear campaign against Leigh and a former plastic surgery colleague.

The medical board is investigating allegations that Hoefflin mocked, exposed and fondled sedated celebrity patients.

Hoefflin said through a publicist that the allegations in the lawsuit are false. He in turn accused Leigh of joining in a “ridiculous smear and money-extraction campaign” conjured up by his enemies.

In her lawsuit, Leigh says she told the medical board that Hoefflin had assaulted her during an examination and that he had invited her several times, along with singer Michael Jackson, to watch him perform surgery without the patient’s consent.

Also suing Hoefflin in connection with the alleged campaign to discredit them are former medical colleague James Hurvitz and his wife, Jackie, who once worked as the surgeons’ office manager. Hurvitz and his wife say Hoefflin defamed them by telling members of the media that they were drug-abusing incompetents.

Hurvitz had supplied the medical board with documents from a settled lawsuit filed by four former employees who accused Hoefflin of sexual harassment. The medical board’s investigation continues.

Hoefflin’s celeb patients have included Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Phyllis Diller. He has denied the allegations.

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OF SHRINKS, TABLOIDS AND MARTHA STEWART: A federal lawsuit over a National Enquirer story headlined “Martha Stewart Is Mentally Ill” survived a legal maneuver that sought to invoke for mental health experts the same libel-proofing that commentators enjoy.

A federal judge let stand the domestic doyenne’s $10-million libel suit against the supermarket tabloid, shooting down arguments by Enquirer attorney Gerson Zweifach that the story quoted mental health experts in much the same way the media have relied on legal and political commentators.

But Stewart’s lawyer, Deborah Drooz, argued that there is a world of difference between a commentator’s opinion and a medical diagnosis.

For the story, the Enquirer’s experts reviewed excerpts from a recent book about Stewart and concluded that they had found “all the textbook symptoms” of a borderline personality disorder, according to the lawsuit.

Stewart’s attorney argued that the story was not commentary or opinion, but “a straight news piece.” She told U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer: “They said she had a brain disease.”

Zweifach said the focus of the case now shifts to the state of Stewart’s mental health.

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STARTING FROM SCRATCH: A Los Angeles Superior Court judge tossed out a $4.3-million verdict against Connie Stevens, saying he failed to tell the jury that anyone who procures employment for an entertainer must be licensed under the California Talent Agencies Act.

Judge Reginald Dunn ordered a new trial in former Stevens manager Norton Styne’s breach of contract suit against the actress. Styne claimed he was cheated out of $1 million in profits from her Forever Spring signature line of cosmetics and skin care products.

Styne, who managed the “Hawaiian Eye” star for three decades and is the son of songwriter Jule Styne, claimed he had an oral agreement with Stevens giving him 10% of the profits from the cosmetics line.

Stevens’ lawyer had argued that since Norton Styne wasn’t licensed under the act, he wasn’t entitled to compensation. A new trial date will be set next month.