Suits

If it please the court, let us stipulate to a few things upfront: First, Zsa Zsa Gabor does n ot look so fat that it would take three or four strong men to lift her onto a horse. And Elke Sommer does not resemble a bald-headed, Hollywood has-been who hangs out in seedy bars and has to sell hand-knitted pullover sweaters to eke out a living.

V. Stiviano's Instagram feed is full of bling - designer handbags, the interior of a Bentley, glamour shots of herself. But on Sunday morning, she was uncharacteristically shy, hiding behind the door of her $1.8-million Spanish-style duplex near the Beverly Center. She told a reporter she was on her way to church. A photo Stiviano posted on Instagram of herself with Lakers legend Magic Johnson was the main topic of a taped conversation in which a man said to be Clippers owner Donald Sterling asks her not to publicly associate with African Americans.

A jury Monday ordered Zsa Zsa Gabor and her husband to pay Elke Sommer $2 million for allegedly telling German publications that Sommer is a financially strapped Hollywood has-been. The Santa Monica Superior Court panel awarded Sommer $800,000 in general damages for statements attributed to Gabor and $1.2 million in general damages for statements linked to Frederick von Anhalt. The jury was scheduled to resume deliberations today to decide punitive damages.

A major manufacturer of anti-fungal products has filed suit in Los Angeles against a competitor, contending that hundreds of thousands of shoe boxes coming into U.S. ports each day could contain a chemical used in rat repellent. The chemical, known as allyl isothiocyanate, is one of the main active ingredients in packing material made by YCM Co., of Taiwan, according to a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday by competitor Micro-Pak, of Hong Kong. The two companies both make items to thwart the growth of fungus or mold, which can ruin shoes during shipment by sea. Because most shoes sold in the U.S. come from Asia aboard cargo container ships that take multi-day ocean voyages, footwear manufacturers commonly put some kind of anti-moisture packing material in shoe boxes, usually silica gel packets or anti-fungal stickers or sheets.

Television actress Alyssa Milano recently won several legal skirmishes in her crusade to stop Internet sites from posting nude pictures of her. Two operators of nude celebrity Web sites have agreed to remove the pictures of Milano and settle suits she filed against them, according to Milano's attorney, Mitchell Kamarck. He declined to specify how much money the sites agreed to pay except to say that the total is "in the five figures."

A Superior Court jury in Los Angeles has awarded $2.5 million to a former executive of bankrupt Newport Beach home builder Baldwin Co. after finding that the owners reneged on a promise to make him a partner in the company. The jury found that brothers James and Alfred Baldwin breached their contract with Robert B. Burns, who headed their company's Los Angeles-Ventura division. However, the jury awarded damages only against James Baldwin, who directly supervised Burns' division.

The trustee running bankrupt Newport Beach home builder Baldwin Co. has sued the firm's owners, brothers Alfred and James Baldwin, claiming they want to resurrect their development empire by wresting the rights to thousands of acres of valuable land from the business that bears their name. Bankruptcy trustee David Gould argues that the brothers are jeopardizing his efforts to nurse Baldwin Co. through a reorganization and repay more than $250 million in debts.

Northrop Grumman Corp. has agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit that accused the defense contractor of overcharging the U.S. Air Force for B-2 bomber instruction and repair manuals, federal prosecutors said Friday. In the latest allegations of overcharging on the $44-billion bomber program, a former employee accused Century City-based Northrop of violating the federal Truth in Negotiations Act by inflating cost estimates on the manuals.

When Halina Douglas and her family gathered at a Sizzler's restaurant five years ago to celebrate her certification as a paralegal assistant, it was a poignant measure of how far she had come from the days when she was forced to flee war-torn Ukraine during World War II. But Douglas' moment of victory turned to disaster when a large menu sign fell from the wall and slammed into her head.

An NBC attorney attempted Friday to persuade federal appeals court judges in Pasadena to strike down the largest libel verdict against an American news organization--a $5.3-million judgment that the network defamed singer Wayne Newton in newscasts that linked him to organized crime figures. NBC lawyer Floyd Abrams said the stories were the product of aggressive reporting, not ill will, and should be protected by the First Amendment. But Newton's lawyer, Morton R.

Thousands of immigrants seeking protection in the United States have spent months in detention waiting for the government to determine whether they may have legitimate cases, even though regulations say they should receive a determination within 10 days, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Thursday. The lawsuit, which was brought by two California chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, claims the government violated the law and needlessly spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on detention.

Finally, someone has designed a luxury hotel suite with wheels. Long-stay AKA Beverly Hills hotel has created a suite inside an Airstream trailer with leather interiors, full kitchen and bathroom, a bed with comfy linens, and even its trademark Bulgari bath amenities. Price-tag for a five-day trip to Santa Barbara: $6,000. Starting May 1, AKA guests can reserve the modified Airstream 2 Go and drive up the coast to spend two nights at Sunstone Vineyards in the wine-growing Santa Ynez Valley and two nights at Ocean Mesa Campground north of Santa Barbara.

The earth did quake; the rocks rent, and the graves were opened. Then peace was made with God as Jesus' body came to rest. That peace, and with it the ability to notice beauty in all things, is expressed in the last aria of Bach's "St. Matthew Passion," which begins with the text, "Make thyself clean, my heart. " This aria is among the most sublime gifts given in all of music, a vision far better suited for the soul than the stage. Yet Peter Brook tailors it meticulously to "The Suit.

Families of children with disabilities have sued Walt Disney Co. theme parks and resorts in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla., over a new policy allowing guests with disabilities quick access to rides and attractions. The suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that the policy put in place in October is intended to discourage guests with disabilities from visiting the parks. Disney dismissed those claims. Before October, visitors with disabilities and their family members were given a card that allowed them to go directly onto rides, skipping long lines.

Through nearly 70 years of acclaim as a theater, film and television director - most particularly as a theater director - Peter Brook has been called a magician many times. In 1962, the British critic Kenneth Tynan extolled him not for pulling a rabbit out of his hat but for an unprecedented approach to "King Lear" that for the first time made the character a palpably human, "edgy, capricious old man" instead of "the booming, righteously indignant titan of old. " Brook, who recently celebrated his 89th birthday, clearly absorbed a fundamental lesson of "King Lear": considering its pitfalls, perhaps retirement is best put off as long as possible.

Los Angeles school district officials and the teachers union have settled a landmark lawsuit over schools that were disproportionately affected by layoffs. Under the agreement, 37 schools will receive more counselors, more administrators and more training for teachers. Principals and mentor teachers also will receive financial incentives to remain at these campuses in predominantly low-income and minority areas. “The youth in greatest peril at these schools will benefit tremendously from the additional administrative and teacher support provided under this program,” said L.A. schools Supt.  John Deasy in a statement.  But what will not change are the rules for laying off teachers when budget cuts or other factors cause a reduction in staff.

In the parlor below the deck of her houseboat docked on the Potomac, a youngish woman--blond and dressed in white--recounts the dream and nightmare of her search for her long-hidden legend-filled past. Among the framed old photographs decorating the wood-paneled room, there is only one that really matters to Jett Williams: a black-and-white picture of a handsome young man in a cowboy hat with a dreamy expression on his face. It is no ordinary face, no ordinary family photograph.

After flat-lining twice on the operating table, Pastor Joe Sabolick figured the worst chapter of his life was over. But when he returned to his office at Calvary Chapel of Laguna Beach a few weeks later, the locks had been changed -- and his handpicked church board, including his older brother, had fired him amid allegations that he embezzled money and was "fixated" on the wife and daughter of an assistant pastor.

Anthony Wardlaw was fresh out of foster care three years ago when he went on general relief, Los Angeles County's $221-a-month welfare program for the destitute. When he tried to use the money to buy his mother a hamburger, his government debit card didn't work. And he had no idea why. According to a $7.9-million settlement agreement announced Tuesday, Wardlaw was one of thousands of people who were knocked off the welfare rolls without proper notice when applications swelled during the Great Recession.

The major Hollywood studios' lawsuit against Megaupload, a now-defunct online storage site, is not just an attempt to punish a company that made millions by building a platform beloved by online pirates. It's also a bid to force online companies to bear more responsibility for enforcing copyrights, something the entertainment industry has long sought from the courts, with limited success. A federal grand jury indicted Megaupload in early 2012, accusing the company and/or its top executives of criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering.