Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Rapper Heavy D has sued his former insurance company for $1.5 million he says it owes him after the fatal stampede at a 1991 City College celebrity basketball event. The rapper, whose real name is Dwight Myers, had helped organize the event, and has since paid out $791,899 to settle lawsuits, court papers say. He’s suing for that, plus interest and legal fees, claiming that his $1 million insurance policy should have indemnified him. Nine students were crushed to death after 5,000 young people showed up at a gym capable of holding only half that number.

NY Post

What took him so long to file the lawsuit? For those of you who do not what happened back in 1991, you can read about it in this VH1 article. 

Kim Basinger is about to be arraigned in criminal court on criminal contempt charges. Former Hubby Alec Baldwin triggered the criminal case by alleging that Kim is guilty of a laundry list of violations in their ongoing custody dispute. Sources tell TMZ that Basinger will plead not guilty through her lawyer, Neal Hersh. The actress will not appear for the arraignment. The former couple has been locked in an epic custody battle over 10-year-old Ireland. Baldwin has alleged Basinger is thwarting his ability to parent. Basinger has said, right back at you, Alec.

TMZ 

This will continue to get uglier and uglier

The company that makes In-Sink-Erator garbage disposers is suing NBC, claiming that an episode of the new show "Heroes" makes the product look bad. Appliance maker Emerson filed the lawsuit in a St. Louis federal court Monday, seeking to block rebroadcasts of the "Heroes" pilot. In the episode, a high-school cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) who has the ability to withstand injury sticks her hand into an In-Sink-Erator while it’s running, mangling her fingers (which return to normal within a few seconds). Emerson’s suit claims the scene "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product" by suggesting that serious injuries will result "in the event consumers were to accidentally insert their hand into one." The suit, however, is more about NBC’s use of the In-Sink-Erator name than the content of the scene, the company says. "It’s a trademark thing," spokesman Dan Callahan tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. NBC hasn’t commented on the suit. Emerson is asking for a ruling barring future broadcasts of the pilot, which is available on NBC’s website and has already aired on NBC Universal-owned cable networks USA and Sci Fi. It also seeks to block NBC from using any Emerson trademarks in the future.

Zap2It

Think about that scene makes me go ouch ouch ouch! 

On Friday, attorneys representing the Knack’s Doug Fieger and Berton Averre — songwriters of the 1979 chart-topping hit "My Sharona" — filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit in Los Angeles against the members of Run-DMC, claiming the rappers did not have permission to sample the song’s core riff in one of their most recognizable tracks, "It’s Tricky." The filing — which also names Rick Rubin (who produced the cut for 1986’s Raising Hell), Arista Records, Rush Groove Music, Rush Communications, online music retailers Yahoo, Amazon, Napster, iTunes and others as defendants — claims that Run-DMC engaged in the "unauthorized copying, reproduction and distribution of [the Knack’s] musical composition and improperly [profiting from]" use of the sample, which the suit claims was "willfully, or with reckless disregard, unlawfully appropriated." The document asserts that, because of Run-DMC’s sampling of "My Sharona," Fieger and Averre have "suffered actual damages, including lost profits, lost opportunities, loss of goodwill, lost publicity, attorneys’ fees and interest." The suit seeks unspecified damages and related legal fees, and characterizes the "signature" riff sampled in "It’s Tricky" as "the essence" of the song. In addition, the suit requests a permanent injunction barring the sale, reproduction, and commercial release of "It’s Tricky," and suggests that Fieger or Averre’s "percentage of ownership in [’It’s Tricky’]" be determined and factored into a declaratory judgment — which should also consider what profits the pair are due from the sale of the Run-DMC song. "Our clients created a unique and distinctive musical composition in ‘My Sharona,’ " attorney Dick Schultz said. "Others shouldn’t be allowed to profit from the unauthorized use of that creation. That is what copyright laws are for, and we are protecting our clients’ rights in their creation." "That [riff] is not only the essence of ‘My Sharona,’ it is one of the most recognizable sounds in rock and roll," said Fieger through his lawyers. Despite the popularity of the riff, some may wonder why Fieger and Averre waited two decades to take action against the hip-hop icons. The lawsuit claims the pair never heard the DMC classic before 2005. No date has been set for the first hearing in the action. Representatives for Run-DMC were unavailable for comment at press time.

MTV

What took them so long? Seriously they are twenty years too late to do this! I guess when they are asked to explain their actons, The Knack will say "It’s Tricky!"

Matt LeBlanc has been sued for defamation by a woman who claims the former "Friends" actor made sexually charged comments about her that were published in the National Enquirer. Stephanie Stephens claims in a lawsuit that LeBlanc told an unspecified person last August that she was sexually aggressive, gave him a lap dance in a private room and engaged him in a "night of sexual debauchery … at her place of employment."A call to LeBlanc’s publicist after business hours Friday was not immediately returned.In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles, Stephens said she was never sexually aggressive toward LeBlanc, never made sexual requests and never gave a lap dance.The lawsuit also says that "all sexual contact between the defendant and the plaintiff took place in the privacy of (Stephens’) residence."It does not provide details on the woman’s relationship to LeBlanc, nor does it specify damages being sought.The National Enquirer is not named as a defendant.

ABC News

Isn’t always the other way around? I think she is lying.

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