Home’s a Castle; Sign’s a Tear-Down
Thought you’d heard the last about producer Aaron Spelling, his wife, Candy, their monster mansion and that long-running dispute with their contractor? Ha! No such luck.
Now it’s the contractor’s turn to sue.
Robert W. LaMar, who is based in Studio City, is accusing the Spellings and a top Century City law firm of malicious prosecution of an unsuccessful lawsuit over the 56,000-square-foot mansion’s leaky roof. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury, you might recall, rejected the Spellings’ $12-million claim for damages in July 1997.
His most compelling evidence, LaMar claims in court papers, is a videotape made to celebrate the end of the massive four-year project. The tape, the contractor claims, shows his “effigy killing,” accomplished by women whacking his construction sign to bits.
“In a chilling display, which was narrated on tape by [an unnamed] media personality, Candy Spelling and her friends took turns bludgeoning and hacking at Mr. LaMar’s name with a ceremonial golden hatchet,” the suit says. “When sufficient damage wasn’t inflicted by Candy Spelling and her hatchet-wielding cadre of giggling accomplices, a motorized chain saw was then used by the group to cut out the heart of Mr. LaMar’s name on the sign.”
The Holmby Hills Chain Saw Massacre! But wait, there’s more.
“As the beaten and battered sign fell to the ground--with the hatchet still sticking grotesquely out of the center of Mr. LaMar’s name,” the suit says, “the media personality closed the videotaped ceremony with the following words:
“ ‘LaMar went down, way down; cut up into little pieces, as you can see by this 14-karat gold hatchet, and Mrs. Spelling was no doubt happy to participate. . . . She’s a charming, lovely friend of mine and I’m very happy for her. And as for Mr. LaMar, well who knows what his future will hold for him? This is [name deleted in suit], reporting from 594 S. Mapleton Drive, the Manor.’ ”
Is this a case of life imitating “Dynasty” or what? And just who is that mystery media personality anyway?
No comment from the Spellings’ lawyers at Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman & Machtinger.
*
Y2K=$450 Gs: Grammy-winning singer Leann Rimes is suing a Beverly Hills hostess for breach of contract, claiming she’s owed $410,000 for a private New Year’s Eve concert that was canceled.
Rimes’ suit in Superior Court in Santa Monica charges that Christine Hazy agreed in writing in December to hire the singer to perform before 450 aviation and entertainment industry muck-a-mucks at a Venetian ball at Hazy’s home to celebrate the millennium. Rimes agreed to perform between 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m., for a fee of $450,000. The $40,000 deposit was paid, but Hazy allegedly backed out a week later.
Alleging breach of contract, Rimes seeks the money she claims she’s owed, plus unspecified damages and attorney’s fees.
*
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?: Remember Steve Guttenberg from the various “Police Academy” movies? Where’d he go? Well, he soon could be coming to a courtroom near you. Guttenberg is suing the Coca-Cola Co., claiming the soft drink giant has continued to show Diet Coke commercials he made in 1990 without paying him his due.
The actor’s Los Angeles Superior Court suit alleges invasion of privacy and unfair business practices. He seeks an injunction stopping Coca-Cola from showing the commercials at an Atlanta theme park and in Las Vegas. He also seeks about $400,000 in damages.
According to Guttenberg’s court papers, Coca-Cola continued to show the commercial at limited venues between 1993 and 1998--long after the company’s contract with him had expired.
Coke officials had no comment.
*
DEEP POCKETS: Is that a monster in your pocket? Two former Mattel execs claim in a federal lawsuit against Nintendo that they came up with the original concept behind the $1-billion-plus Pokemon craze 10 years before anyone had heard of a little yellow critter named Pikachu.
Joe Morrison and John Weems charge that Nintendo cheated them by falsely claiming to have come up with the idea itself.
In their court papers, the two former Mattel marketing directors say they registered the trademark for a line of toys called “Monster in My Pocket” in 1990. “Pokemon,” of course, is common kid-speak for those ubiquitous collectible “Pocket Monsters,” their video game and a kiddie cartoon show that plays like one long commercial. The suit states that Morrison and Weems licensed their trademarked toy line to the Japanese company Konami Inc., which developed the “Monster in My Pocket” video game for Nintendo. As a result, attorney Brian Lysaght claims, Nintendo certainly was well aware of the little monsters’ huge profit potential and cut Morrison and Weems’ company out of the marketing bonanza.
A Nintendo spokesman could not be reached.
*
GET ME REWRITE: A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has told two men who claim they wrote the pilot to television’s “Gilligan’s Island” to rewrite their lawsuit against Sherwood Schwartz, the show’s producer.
Schwartz’s younger sibling, Elroy, and another man claim Schwartz has been cheating them out of royalties ever since they did him a favor and put his name on the script for the pilot in 1961. The squabble over credits and royalties has consumed decades.
The producer’s lawyers, seeking to have the case tossed out of court, claim the charges are too old, and the beef already has been litigated.
Superior Court Judge David Minning said the suit by the younger Schwartz and his writing partner, Austin Kalish, seems to have no merit. Still, he gave them 30 days to fix their complaint.
