Category: Lawsuits

White Stripes Singer Charged with Assault
DETROIT (Reuters) – Michigan prosecutors charged Grammy-nominated singer Jack White of the band The White Stripes with aggravated assault on Monday following a fight with another singer at a Detroit club.
White, 28, could face a prison charge of up to a year if convicted on the aggravated assault charge stemming from an unprovoked attack on Jason Stollsteimer, the singer from the local garage rock band the Von Bondies, the prosecutor for Wayne County, Michigan said.
White approached Stollsteimer, 25, at the Magic Stick club in Detroit on Dec. 13, spat on him, and punched him in the face, the prosecutor said. Stollsteimer fell to the floor and White continued to hit him until he was pulled off by onlookers, the prosecutor said.
Stollsteimer suffered injuries to his right eye, which swelled shut after the fight, and was bleeding from his nose.
“It seems that far too often celebrities think that the law does not apply to them,” Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan told a news conference. “So many don’t understand the impact they have as role models on young people, and this just can’t be tolerated,”
The White Stripes, a duo of White on guitar and his former wife Meg White on drums, has been nominated for three Grammy awards. Its songs include “Seven Nation Army.” “Elephant,” the group’s critically praised album, has been nominated for album of the year.
White has received a fourth nomination for his solo work.
White has been romantically linked to actress Renee Zellweger, and he contributed music to the movie “Cold Mountain,” a U.S. Civil War drama starring Zellweger, Nicole Kidman and Jude Law.

Michael Jackson Charged with ‘Lewd Acts’ on Child
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) – Michael Jackson was charged on Thursday with nine counts of molesting a young boy, including committing seven “lewd acts,” but the pop star’s lawyer called the case a “shakedown” motivated by greed and revenge.
The 45-year-old Jackson, a self-styled “Peter Pan,” is also accused of giving the boy, who is not identified in court papers, an “intoxicating agent” in order to make it easier to molest him. If found guilty, he could face more than 20 years in prison and be forced to register as a sex offender under California law.
All of the charges stem from allegations that Jackson molested a boy under the age of 14 at his Neverland Valley Ranch, in the hills above Santa Barbara, earlier this year.
A police report has said that the boy in question was the youth who was shown holding hands with Jackson during a British documentary that was broadcast in February. The singer said that they both slept in his bedroom, as had other children.
Jackson, who describes himself as a Peter Pan, insisted that there was nothing sexual in those encounters, which he viewed as an innocent form of his professed affection for children.
The self-declared “King of Pop,” who was arrested on suspicion of child molestation last month and released on $3 million bail, was not present when the charges were unsealed at a courthouse in the central California city of Santa Maria, near his Neverland Valley Ranch.
“Michael is innocent,” Jackson’s mother, Katherine, said in a written statement. “On behalf of the Jackson family we know these vicious lies are totally untrue, malicious and motivated by pure greed and revenge.”
She added that the family would “fight with every ounce of our energy to reveal the truth behind these false allegations and the motivations behind those who have falsely accused Michael.”
Jackson’s attorney, Mark Geragos, suggested that he knew more about the case than prosecutors and vowed that his client would ultimately be proven innocent.
‘ABSOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY INNOCENT’
“I can tell you categorically, based upon this complaint that has been filed, that Michael Jackson is absolutely, unequivocally innocent of these charges,” Geragos said at a press conference outside his Los Angeles office at which he refused to take questions.
“What we have here is an intersection between a shakedown — someone who is looking for money — with somebody doing an investigation who has an ax to grind,” he said. “Because otherwise there would be no way that any self-respecting prosecutor would be going forward on the basis of this patent … shakedown.”
Jackson was due in court on Jan. 16 for a formal reading of the charges.
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon, who announced the charges at a press conference, also dismissed a memo by a Los Angeles County child welfare agency clearing Jackson of similar charges, saying that it was based on a single interview and not expected to affect the Santa Barbara case.
“To call that an investigation is a misnomer,” Sneddon said. “It was an interview, plain and simple, and we are not concerned about it.”
The entertainer was expected to be at Neverland on Saturday night for a party with friends and family members who wanted to lend him support, Jackson spokesman Stuart Backerman said. Jackson then planned to travel to England, Backerman said, after his lawyers arranged with prosecutors for the return of his passport that was confiscated at his arrest.
Jackson, who survived a similar brush with the law 10 years ago by making a multimillion dollar out-of-court settlement with the family of a teenage boy, has protested his innocence. †
He set up a Web site in November calling the current allegations a “big lie,” but he has remained out of the public eye. His lawyers have said the accuser and his family are trying to make money from Jackson.

Gun in Phil Spector’s Hand After Shooting -Police
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Record producer Phil Spector emerged from his California mansion with a gun in his hand and said “I think I just shot her,” his driver told police shortly after a B-movie actress was found dead in the foyer.
According to police reports unsealed late Tuesday, actress Lana Clarkson was sprawled on a chair, her teeth and blood spattered about the room from a gunshot wound to her mouth when police arrived at the faux castle outside Los Angeles at about 5 a.m. on Feb. 3.
The documents — police affidavits, a catalog of evidence seized from the crime scene and search warrants — provide the first public glimpse of the killing that last month led to a murder charge against the legendary music producer.
The police reports suggest an intimate evening of drinks by candlelight that ended tragically.
Clarkson, 40, was wearing a “black nylon slip/dress, black nylons and black shoes,” according to an affidavit by Los Angeles County sheriff’s Detective Mark Lillienfeld that was made public at the request of crime author Carlson Smith.
“A leopard print purse, with a black strap, was slung over her right shoulder, with the purse hanging down on her right side by her right arm,” Lillienfeld said. “Broken teeth from the victim were scattered about the foyer and an adjacent stairway.”
Sheriff’s Detective Danny Smith, in an affidavit, said Spector’s driver, Adriano Desouza, told police that shortly after he heard a single gunshot at about 5.0 a.m., the record producer emerged from his Alhambra, California mansion with a gun in his hand and said, “I think I just shot her.”
Lillienfeld’s affidavit said, “Spector came out the back door holding a handgun, stating words to the effect of, ‘I think I just killed someone.”‘
Spector, who created the lush, layered recording technique known as “The Wall of Sound,” suggested in a magazine interview earlier this year that the statuesque blonde actress killed herself. Spector, 63, pleaded innocent to the charge and remains free on $1 million bail.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In his affidavit, Lillienfeld said that on the floor beneath Clarkson’s left leg was a blue steel, .38-caliber Colt revolver with five live rounds and a spent cartridge under the hammer. The weapon was blood-spattered, the detective noted.
Investigators also found blood smears on the back door handle and on a wooden stairway railing near the death scene, he said. A blood-spattered man’s jacket was recovered from an upstairs dressing room, and a blood-soaked cloth was found on the floor of a bathroom next to the foyer, Lillienfeld said.
In the adjacent living room, candles had been lit atop a fireplace mantel and a partially filled brandy glass and bottles of tequila and soda stood on the coffee table between two sofas, the report said. Desouza told police Spector and Clarkson had spent about an hour and a half in the mansion before the shooting, having arrived there at 3.30 a.m.
Police took nine guns, a bloody holster, fragments of Clarkson’s teeth and fingernails, and false eyelashes from Spector’s 12,000-square-foot home, according to court records.
Interviews with Desouza revealed that Spector had dined with a woman named Rommie Davis on the night of the shooting, and had drinks at two other Los Angeles night spots before meeting Clarkson at the House of Blues, where she worked as a hostess.
Police believed that the pair met for the first time on the night she died, Lillienfeld said. Clarkson starred in such films as “Amazon Women in the Moon” and “The Barbarian Queen.”

Canada Songwriters Eye Royalties From ISPs
Canada’s songwriters sought to require that Internet service providers pay for their users’ music downloading habits in a case that could generate millions of dollars in music royalties.
In the case Canada’s Supreme Court heard Wednesday, the 70,000-member Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada also wants to extend the nation’s copyright law beyond its borders by applying it to offshore Web sites that serve Canadians.
“I believe that those who benefit from selling access to music should compensate the creators,” said David Basskin, president of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency, whose agency oversees royalties from CDs and includes many of SOCAN’s members.
Analysts said the case could have far-reaching implications worth millions if not billions of dollars, especially as the music industry tries to rebound from declining sales in traditional stores.
The case could change how artists are compensated, how far a country can go to extract payment, what gets put on the Internet and how recording companies serve buyers, they said.
SOCAN argues that everyone is downloading music, so all ISPs should pay a blanket royalty fee.
Fighting the effort is the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, which includes Canadian subsidiaries of some of the tech world’s heavy hitters: Bell, Sprint, AOL, MCI, IBM and Yahoo.
Jay Thomson, the service provider group’s president, said artists should seek royalties directly from Web site operators, not from ISPs simply because they are a convenient target.
SOCAN’s effort contrasts with the more litigious approach in the United States, where the recording industry has sued file-sharing services along with individuals who use them. The industry filed another round of lawsuits Wednesday.
The tariff model has been used for the past three years in Canada as a tax on blank cassettes and CDs, ostensibly to compensate for the loss of royalties on home-recorded music. To date the measure has collected $20.5 million.
Richard Owens, executive director of the Center for Innovation Law and Policy at the University of Toronto, questions whether such a model would work on the Internet.
“I’m not sure people using the Internet for perfectly legal reasons should have to pay for problems in the music industry,” he said.
Casey Chisick, a copyright and entertainment lawyer in Toronto, said the case could open the door to whether Canadian ISPs are liable for any illegal content they may carry, such as music or pornography.
In the United States, service providers are generally exempted from liability, though they must take steps to remove or block materials upon request to preserve their immunity.
The Supreme Court heard arguments from both sides and is expected to rule in six to 12 months.
John Perry Barlow, a Harvard Law School fellow and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, told The Associated Press that SOCAN would be in a “unique, absurd and untenable” position if it won.
“I can’t imagine SOCAN effectively policing every Web site on the planet,” he said. “Nor can I imagine a Web site in Singapore paying much attention to what the Supreme Court of Canada says.”

Nichols’ brother sues Michael Moore
DETROIT (AP) — James Nichols, the brother of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, says he was tricked into appearing in the documentary Bowling for Columbine, according to a federal lawsuit filed against filmmaker Michael Moore.
Nichols also alleges in the lawsuit, filed Monday in Detroit, that Moore libeled him by linking him to the terrorist act.
Nichols accuses Moore of libel, defamation of character, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. His lawyer is asking for a jury trial and damages ranging from $10 million to $20 million on each of nine counts, the Detroit Free Press reported.
A message seeking comment was left Tuesday with Moore’s publicist.
In the film, Moore asks Nichols for an interview and steers the subject from the Oklahoma City bombing to gun ownership. Nichols tells Moore he has a gun under his pillow, and Moore asks Nichols to show him.
In the lawsuit, Nichols, who lives in Decker, said Moore misled him about the purpose of the interview.
Bowling for Columbine won the feature-length documentary Academy Award earlier this year.

Nicole Kidman Wins Libel Case Over Adultery Slur
LONDON (Reuters) – Oscar-winning star Nicole Kidman won a five-figure sum and an apology Tuesday from a British newspaper that said she had had an affair with actor Jude Law and was to blame for the break-up of his marriage.
At London’s High Court, the tabloid Sun newspaper admitted the allegations about Kidman, which were published in March, were untrue.
“The defendants apologize to the claimant for the distress and embarrassment this article has caused,” said the Sun’s lawyer Daniel Taylor.
Kidman, who was not in court, said in a statement she was glad the case was over.
Two months ago she won damages against another British newspaper that had published the same claims.
The marriage split between “Road To Perdition” star Law and his wife Sadie Frost triggered widespread media coverage in Britain earlier in the year.

Courtney Love faces drug charge in L.A.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Singer-actress Courtney Love was charged with a misdemeanor drug count Tuesday, less than a week after she allegedly tried to break into a Los Angeles home.
Love is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Los Angeles, said Frank Mateljan, spokesman for the city attorney’s office. Love’s drug tests were still pending, he said.
Love, 39, was arrested Oct. 2 outside a Los Angeles home where she had allegedly broken the windows in an attempt to enter, according to police.
She was arrested and booked for investigation of using illegal drugs, posted $2,500 bail and was released.
Hours later, police and paramedics in Beverly Hills responded to an emergency call and took Love to a hospital to receive treatment for an overdose, police said.
Her representatives did not return a call for comment Wednesday, and had refused to discuss the case previously.
The performer is the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994. She received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in the 1996 movie “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”

Phil Spector Might Flee The Country
The New York Daily News reports that legendary ’60s record producer Phil Spector, who was arrested in February on suspicion of killing actress Lana Clarkson at his California mansion, may have plans to flee the U.S. before his October 31 hearing.
Los Angeles law enforcement officials reportedly received a tip from a member of Spector’s camp. A source told the newspaper, “Spector has a private jet. The sheriff’s office has been told that he might use it to take off. The police said they appreciated the information, but that they didn’t have the manpower to keep watch on him 24 hours a day.” Just last week, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge extended Spector’s $1,000,000 bail to the date of his hearing.
Despite the tip, some L.A. officials are not too concerned with Spector leaving the country. Captain Frank Merriman, head of the L.A. sheriff’s homicide bureau, said, “If we felt it was necessary to watch him, we would. I’m not worried about him. If he’s charged, he’ll either turn himself in or he’ll flee. But where’s he’s going to go? Let him run. We’ll catch him.”
In September the L.A. County coroner ruled Clarkson’s death a murder. Spector is the only suspect in the case.
Spector is known for his “Wall Of Sound” production technique that fueled the hits of many ’60s pop acts including the Beatles, the Ronettes and the Shirelles.

SPECTOR UPDATE
The Los Angeles Times reporting that sheriff’s detectives have reportedly submitted their findings to prosecutors that legendary record producer Phil Spector was behind the shooting death of a B-movie actress at his Los Angeles mansion. “It’s not an accident. It’s not a suicide,” Capt. Frank Merriman told the Times Friday. “Phil Spector shot her.”

TICKET TO LEGAL FIGHT
The Beatles management company, Apple Corps., seeking a court injunction against Apple Computer Inc. on Friday, claiming the computer company breached the band’s trademark by using the Apple name in the moniker for its Apple iTunes online music store.