After Libel Suit Against Blogger Fails, Lohan Gal Pal Targets Own Lawyer
A defamation lawsuit brought by a gal pal of actress Lindsay Lohan against a well-known celebrity blogger didn’t turn out the way either the plaintiff or her counsel had hoped.
Represented by a high-profile New York lawyer Martin Garbus, disc jockey Samantha Ronson had hoped for vindication against blogger Perez Hilton. He had angered her by using a term that she felt “cruelly mocked her sexuality,” although the defamation case focused on cocaine reportedly found in Lohan’s car that allegedly belonged to Ronson, explains the Los Angeles Times, in its own words, in a lengthy account of the lawyer-client dispute.
The Celebrity Babylon blog on which Hilton had relied eventually agreed to retract its post and apologize to settle the suit. However, the defamation case became problematic when Hilton asserted a First Amendment defense and argued that Ronson should have to pay his legal defense fees under a California anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute, according to the newspaper. Indeed, when the defamation case was dismissed, Ronson was ordered to pay Hilton’s defense lawyers $85,000.
Now she is suing her former counsel for malpractice in Los Angeles County Superior Court, contending that he mishandled the defamation case and abandoned her as a client. In the meantime, Garbus had sued Ronson in New York for $142,000 in alleged unpaid legal fees, but later dropped his claim, the Times article recounts.
Now, ironically, as Garbus seeks to defend himself by proving that Ronson couldn’t have won the defamation case, the legal malpractice case potentially offers a multitude of material for Hilton and other celebrity bloggers:
“Garbus’ attorneys have identified Lohan as the most critical witness in the case besides the two litigants and have requested information concerning their relationship, finances, possible drug use and alleged rehab stays,” the newspaper writes. “In one measure of how far his defense plans to go, they have asked for copies of every text message and e-mail between the women over the last two years.”
