Steve-O, Bodyguard Sued for Boutique Bopping
Maybe working for Steve-O has made his bodyguard forget that most people don’t enjoy the occasional blow to the head.
A former security guard has sued the Jackass daredevil and his muscle, Reggie Pace, for assault and battery, claiming Pace punched him when he refused to let their entourage into a West Hollywood boutique last summer.
“It’s all about getting justice,” Joseph Barrett, attorney for the plaintiff, Roland Cano, said in a statement Thursday. “Steve-O may believe he is someone special who can make his own rules, but he will learn that the same rules apply to him. He can’t hid behind his friend in this fight.”
According to his lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday, Roland Cano was hired to work the door at Kitson during an Aug. 16 party for the launch of Paris Hilton’s new clothing line for the chi-chi shopping spot.
Cano recalls denying Steve-O, whose real name is Stephen Glover, entry to the boutique when he tried to get in with his pals and a camera crew filming the stuntmeister’s USA reality show Dr. Steve-O. (USA Networks and parent company NBC Universal have also been named as defendants.)
Steve-O then said he was going to “go over everyone’s head here in a moment” and subsequently pushed through the door along with Pace, who measures in at 6-feet, nine-inches, the plaintiff alleges, per documents obtained by TMZ.com.
When Cano followed them into the store and tried to escort Steve-O back outside, Pace “leaned into plaintiff and without provocation violently punched [his] face and head repeatedly.”
Steve-O’s camp hasn’t commented on the suit but, according to Cano’s complaint, he said at the time: “I just had my dude rip that security guard’s face…It was awesome…I just needed to see my security guard rough everyone the f–k up.”
People will do anything to be on TV today, eh?
In addition to assault and battery, Cano is also claiming negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and negligent hiring and retention. He’s seeking unspecified damages and attorney’s fees.
NBC to Catch a Settlement
The Peacock blinked.
NBC has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a Texas prosecutor who took his own life after he became the target of a Dateline: To Catch a Predator investigation, an NBC rep confirmed.
“The matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of both parties,” network spokeswoman Jenny Tartikoff said in a statement.
Financial details of the settlement were not disclosed. The network has removed several show clips from its website.
The sister of Louis W. Conradt Jr. filed a $105 million suit last year against the network, alleging Dateline producers goaded the government attorney into committing suicide after an episode of its popular Predator series accused him of soliciting sex with a 13-year-old boy over the Internet.
When confronted by police and a Dateline video crew outside his suburban Dallas home in November 2006, Conradt shot himself rather than become the latest “catch” of the highly rated program, which sets up online sting operations and then confronts alleged perps.
The suit raised questions about the candid-camera style methods employed by Predator’s producers, its no-nonsense correspondent Chris Hansen and Internet watchdog group Perverted Justice.
The complaint alleged that NBC “steamrolled” local law enforcement to take the 56-year-old assistant county prosecutor into custody after producers failed to lure him to a decoy house in a suburb 35 miles away, where cameras were waiting for him.
It was the ninth such sweep initiated by the newsmagazine, which has accounted for more than two dozen arrests.
Things weren’t looking so good for the broadcaster after a federal judge ruled in February that the lawsuit could proceed to trial on claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of civil rights.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin wrote in his opinion that NBC had “crossed the line” by putting itself “squarely in the middle of a police operation, pushing the police to engage in tactics that were unnecessary and unwise, solely to generate more dramatic footage for a television show.”
In doing so, he said, the network “created a substantial risk of suicide or other harm.”
At the time, NBC maintained the suit had no merit.
Lindsay Looking to Nip Bodyguard Suit in the Bud
Lindsay Lohan wants to make the bodyguard she says she never knew go away.
The starlet’s legal camp is looking to settle a lawsuit brought against her by David Kim, who claims Lohan owes him more than $55,000 for his time spent as part of her security detail, according to court documents filed by both parties.
Detailing all sorts of thankless little extras he says he provided while on the job, Kim sued Lohan and her Crossheart Productions on April 7 for fraud, breach of oral contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress and various California Labor Code violations.
Meanwhile, the Mean Girls star maintains she doesn’t know Kim and, subsequently, never employed him, either.
But in his complaint, Kim says Crossheart hired him in October 2006 to protect Lohan for either $4,000 per week for 24/7 security or $2,800 for p.m. policing only. Aside from going unpaid for his services, he claims that, during the six months he worked for the actress, he incurred about $10,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for mileage, valet tips and other chauffeur-related expenses while ferrying Lohan between home and…wherever.
He also personally arranged for extra security and VIP tables at clubs and events to shield Lohan from the madding crowd and sustained $1,470 in damages that November when Lohan’s driver rammed into his car while making an illegal right turn to avoid paparazzi.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ernest Hiroshige has given Lohan and Crossheart until June 30 to file a response to the suit, but her team seems eager to wipe this case from the docket as soon as possible.
The dueling parties are “presently continuing to exchange settlement proposals…to attempt to resolve [the case],” lawyers for both sides wrote in their latest court filing.