Tommy Lee, Pamela Anderson Dogged by Suit Over Rottweiler

It’s a dog’s world . . . The $1.47-million elbow . . . Lawsuit.com . . . Nicolas Uncaged.

As if the courts of Los Angeles haven’t seen enough of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, now it seems that even the family dog is the subject of litigation.

The tattooed former Motley Crue drummer and his buxom blond wife, star of the television series “VIP,” are being sued in Superior Court in Van Nuys by a woman who says she was bitten by their Rottweiler during a visit to their hilltop home off Mulholland Highway near Malibu.

“This dog had a vicious nature, disposition and propensity, which was known or should have been known to the defendants,” according to Doreen Cott’s negligence and personal injury suit.

Hmmmmm. Does Fido needs some anger management counseling, too?

Cott charged she was bitten July 3, 1997, while legally on the couple’s property. Her suit, filed nearly a year later, seeks unspecified damages for medical expenses, loss of wages and other inconveniences caused by the dog bite. Neither Cott nor the Lees could be reached Friday.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for April 5.

HE’S BAAAACK: In other doggy news, Iggy the Pug has come home to the Ritz--Lisa Ritz, that is. A tipster last week led police to the little dog and he was seized and returned to Ritz. She has charged in court that Iggy was pug-napped by an animal rescue volunteer popular with the celebrity set.

Ritz, readers of this space might recall, bought Iggy from a homeless guy on Melrose Avenue for $100 back in December. She had the dog for five weeks, then lost him, she contends, when she took him for boarding to a woman named Sherrie Woodbury, who is involved in rescuing abused and abandoned pugs.

Ritz charges that she had intended to board Iggy for a few days but missed her pug and returned to retrieve him after five hours. She alleges in a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court that Woodbury refused to hand over Iggy, accusing Ritz of pug abandonment. Ritz filed criminal charges--petty theft because she paid $100 for Iggy--against Woodbury and a civil suit naming Woodbury and Little Angels Pug Rescue, an animal rescue group, as defendants.

Pasadena police seized Iggy from his somewhat surprised adoptive owners, and on Thursday plaintiff and pug were reunited in the law offices of attorney David M. Cordrey.

“I’m overjoyed,” Ritz said. It is not yet clear what will become of the civil and criminal cases that are Iggy’s legal legacy.

Attempts to reach Woodbury and Little Angels were unsuccessful.

NO BADGE, BIG VERDICT: What is the dream of wearing a Los Angeles County sheriff’s badge worth? In the case of the Getty security guard whose elbow was crushed by an iron gate, about $1.47 million, according to a Los Angeles Superior Court jury.

Dwayne Williams, 22, was working as a security guard for the Getty Center in Brentwood in February 1997 when a newly installed iron gate fell on him, shattered his elbow and trapped him for 45 minutes. He sued, and the case against general contractor Dinwiddie Construction Co. and subcontractor Brunton Enterprises recently went to trial in the courtroom of Judge Paul Boland.

During the two-week trial, the defendants admitted responsibility for the accident, but claimed Williams had healed sufficiently to return to work. But, Williams and his lawyer, Edward Steinbrecher, argued that his dream to someday become a sheriff’s deputy was crushed by that gate.

According to testimony, Williams had worked seven years toward becoming a deputy. He took the entrance exam three times and failed--the last time by only a point.

He sought the damages for emotional distress caused by a fractured elbow that rendered him physically unable to perform a deputy’s duties.

THE MOST CAKE: Add Courtney Love, her Hole bandmate Eric Erlandson and representatives of the estate of her late husband, Kurt Cobain, to the list of celebs who have had it with cybersquatters.

Attorneys for Cobain’s estate and Love et al are suing a bunch of Canadian dotcommies in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, invoking the spanking new cybersquatting laws. They also allege dilution of trademark and infringement of publicity rights.

According to the suit, defendants Ray King, Adam Corelli and Homebranch.com have laid claim to the kurtcobain.com and hole.com and courtneylove.com domain names.

Attorneys for Love and the Cobain estate allege in court papers that the defendants are selling souvenirs and muddying the Internet waters for people seeking the real deal. The suit seeks an injunction kicking the cybersquatters off the Love, Cobain and Hole sites, as well as unspecified damages.

THE EX FILES: Those irreconcilable differences have come between Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette. He filed papers in Los Angeles Superior Court to end a five-year marriage during which they spent more time apart than together. The documents state that the two actors married April 6, 1995, and separated Jan. 10, 1996. In his petition, Cage asks the court to honor a March 16, 1996, agreement between the two over how to divvy up the property.

Times staff writer Evelyn Larrubia contributed to this story.