King Loses Decision in Squabble With Lawyer

Pretty baby . . . C’mon get happy . . . My (free) bodyguard

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has tossed out famed police beating victim Rodney G. King’s malpractice suit against the lawyer who helped him coin his famous phrase, “Can’t we all just get along?”

King uttered those words in 1992--in the wake of rioting that followed a Simi Valley jury’s acquittal of police officers captured beating him bloody on a videotape that was broadcast around the world.

King had accused attorney Steve Lerman of mismanaging a $3.8-million legal settlement from the city over the 1991 beating. King, at the urging of other lawyers, sued Lerman for $1 million in damages in 1996.

But Judge Ann Kough found that the statute of limitations had expired by the time King sued Lerman.

Lerman called King’s suit bogus and said he planned to continue with his suit seeking about $800,000 in legal fees he says King owes him. He also said he planned to pursue lawsuits against the three lawyers who advised King to sue him for malpractice.

“It’s been nine years since Rodney King’s mother called me to help her son and this is the thanks I get?” said Lerman. “These lawyers got greedy with Mr. King, and he let them do it.”

Meanwhile, King plans an appeal.

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GROUNDHOG DAY: One of Hollywood’s oddest and most enduring marriages is going underground for the next six months. Starting Feb. 2, entertainers Marty Ingels and Shirley Jones will retire to their separate burrows for a trial separation.

They will not speak to, write to or see each other, according to terms of a legal agreement drawn up by their lawyers. As Ingels put it, “even skywriting” is off-limits while they ponder whether their 25-year marriage can be salvaged. For now, no one’s mentioning the D-word.

“They need some space at this time in their lives,” said the couple’s publicist, Ed Lozzi. And so, she’s packing up and getting ready to move out of their newly renovated Beverly Hills house. She’ll be renting nearby, Ingels said in a telephone interview.

“We’re both very sad,” said Ingels.

On Tuesday, Ingels and Jones made what was billed as their final public appearance together for a while. Ironically, they were leading a seminar for the Learning Annex called “Careers and Successful Relationships.” An ad for the event, at the Beverly Hills Hilton, hyped it thusly:

“Shirley and Marty will . . . reveal their recipe for creating a successful relationship.”

Alas, here’s Ingels’ updated recipe for a house divided:

“Take one peaceful Gentile and one hyper Jew, mix with four disapproving stepsons and a half-cup of show business hypocrisy. Sprinkle freely with divisive friends, fiscal inequities and an irregular age difference. Place concoction in a tightly sealed baking dish and leave it somewhere far away. Then grab your wife and go to Marie Callender’s.”

You read it here first.

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PRETTY BABY: The parents of a tot whose topless photo was used to market toys, puzzles, note pads and calendars have accused a photo studio, Milton Bradley Co., Hasbro, and several other companies of conspiring to invade the pretty baby’s privacy and pirate her image.

Lorraine M. and Timothy B. Adams charge in the Los Angeles Superior Court suit that they were promised that 9-month-old Sara Ann would not be commercially exploited. The child was photographed “while naked” in February 1998 at Art Impressions, a photo studio in Canoga Park, court papers say. The legal documents did not make it clear whether the baby Sara Ann was working on her modeling portfolio or merely posing for snapshots for grandma.

The parents seek $750 as well as unspecified damages.

Alison Kenney, a vice president at Art Impressions, said the suit has no merit. The company has a signed model’s release from the parents, she said.

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GUARDING DENNIS: An Illinois man is seeking $450,000 in back pay for the nearly three years he says he worked as one of outrageous hoops star Dennis Rodman’s around-the-clock bodyguards.

Kelly Davis’ Los Angeles Superior Court suit charges that he entered into an employment agreement with Dwight Manley and United Sports Agency in November 1995. He charges that Manley said that he would put Davis on the agency’s payroll, but it never happened. All he got was one lousy check for $10,000, court papers say.

Baby-sitting basketball’s tattooed bad boy was grueling work, according to the suit. “On occasion,” court papers say, Davis “would not get to sleep until 5:30 a.m. and have to return to work the next day at 8 a.m. after ensuring that Mr. Rodman was safely home from his evenings out at nightclubs.” He also claims to have accompanied Rodman to Italy in 1996 during filming of the film “Double Team.”

Rodman was not named in the suit. Manley, who lives in Orange County, could not be reached.

Times staff writer Hector Becerra contributed to this column.