So Sue Me…

The Los Angeles Dodgers are trying to wash their hands clean of the Bryan Stow assault.

The baseball organization asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross to dismiss a claim filed by Stow and his family shortly after owner Frank McCourt filed for bankruptcy.

Despite the reported 442 security personnel on hand for opening day last March, Stow still managed to get brutally attacked in the parking lot of Chavez Ravine, leaving him in a coma for months.

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Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

Mel Gibson may be called to testify in the discrimination case of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputy James Mee. Mee is the deputy who arrested Gibson back in 2006, and who Gibson allegedly berated with anti-Semitic comments. Mee alleges that supervisors made him scrub Gibson’s anti-Semetic slurs from his report on the incident–and that he was subsequently denied promotions as a result of the incident.

Gibson had worked as a spokesperson for the department prior to his arrest and was seen as close with the top brass. LA Sheriff Lee Baca may also be called to testify.

We here at FishbowlLA typically prefer our news substantial, rather than circus freakshow. But you better believe if these two hit the witness stand it we’ll be down at the courthouse with all the other bozos, throwing elbows while struggling to get one coherent five-word question in.

Academy Award-nominated Gasland documentarian Josh Fox was arrested Wednesday while attempting to cover a public congressional hearing on the controversial oil extraction process “fracking.” Fox was apparently not properly credentialed to cover the meeting and House Republicans ordered him arrested after he refused to stop filming the proceedings. Democracy Now has the transcripts of how it all went down.

H/T The eXiled

When nationally syndicated columnist and ESPN poker personality Norman Chad was selected to jury duty, he did what any person in 2012 would do — gave play-by-play on Twitter.

Chad, AKA “Juror #7,” was rebuked by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Laura Foland Priver Wednesday for tweeting during a burglary trial.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Chad tweeted two dozen times between Jan. 11-12. The judge was eventually tipped off that Chad was tweeting and he was dismissed from the case.

“He made a mockery of our system,” Priver told Chad’s attorney. “I’m disturbed by this behavior. Once the information is out there, it’s out there forever. The public who sees these tweets is going to think this behavior is OK.”

Chad received a warning despite the fact that communicating during a trial is a misdemeanor in the state of California.

The Tribune Company, (abusive) parent company of the LA Times, has spent $212.9 million on lawyers fees and another $17.8 million on additional legal expenses since they filed for bankruptcy in December of 2008, according to a report in Crain’s.

And the river of wasted money isn’t drying up anytime soon. U.S. bankruptcy judge Kevin Carey recently said he wouldn’t hold hearings to end Tribune Co’s bankruptcy until May, at the earliest. Which, sadly, will most likely mean more layoffs, despite the company’s supposedly improving cash flow.

This fishie was enjoying a little streaming video this morning via our beloved Megaupload when the website stopped working. Now we may never know how that particular episode of The Golden Girls ended, and it’s all thanks to the FBI. The website has been shut down, its executives have been arrested, and are being charged with violating piracy laws.

Via the New York Times:

As part of the crackdown on Megaupload, 20 search warrants were executed in nine countries, including the United States. About $50 million in assets were also seized, as well as a number of servers and 18 domain names, the authorities said.

Ira P. Rothken, a lawyer for Megaupload, said in a phone interview on Thursday afternoon that he had not yet seen the indictment, but he added: “Clearly we have due process concerns. This was done without a hearing.”

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A Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputy has been arrested for allegedly smuggling a bean-and-cheese burrito filled with heroin into a courthouse jail. As it happens, the deputy in question, Henry Marin, isn’t just any old deputy. He’s a vet from the Fox reality show The Academy, who fell asleep in front of cameras on his first day as an LASD recruit and eventually flunked out of the LA Sheriff’s Academy before a nationally televised audience.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

From the LA Times:

Marin’s subpar performance eventually led to his ouster from Academy Class 355 for flunking two role-playing exercises. In one, he failed to call for help after a suicidal woman brandished a gun and he was unable to recall the radio code for an emergency. “You blew this one, big time,” his instructor says.

After he failed a second scenario, Marin was dismissed from the academy.

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The actress who anonymously sued IMDB for revealing her age against her wishes has been forced to publicly reveal her name. Huong Hoang, also known as Junie Hoang, sued IMDB after the company used her credit card information to determine she was 40–then posted that info on her page. She initially was able to keep her name a secret in the suit, but legal wrangling by IMBD forced yet another reveal.

THR Esq. has the story:

Amazon, IMDB’s parent, asked a federal judge to force the plaintiff to reveal herself, citing the judicial process’ strong preference for transparency and its belief that proceeding openly would not subject Hoang to measurable discrimination in Hollywood. Hoang, repped by Washington lawyer John Dozier, opposed the effort to unmask her, but on Dec. 23 the judge ruled that Hoang must come forward with a new complaint under her own name or it would be dismissed.

Hoang is a working actress with dozens of film credits to her name–most recently Gingerbread Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver. Her birthday is still posted on her IMDB page. 

Lionsgate tried to back out of a multi-million dollar product tie-in deal for Hunger Games nail polish back in November, prompting beauty brand American International Industries (AII) to slap them with a lawsuit. The two companies have since settled their differences, though they remain tight lipped on the details, with AII simply stating that “Any litigation matters between the parties have been resolved,” and Lionsgate saying nothing at all.

Ads for the polish line have already surfaced, featuring Elizabeth Banks as her character Effie Trinket. As a side note for the ladies and drag queens reading this, the crazy butterfly & deer antler eyelashes she’s wearing are made by London brand Paperself.

The polishes will be released March 1 by China Glaze, and The Hunger Games hits theaters March 23.

Columnist Enrique Limon unveiled one of the least merry Christmas stories we’ve ever read in this week’s San Diego CityBeat. Limon was arrested for public drunkenness on Christmas day by San Diego police, despite only drinking what he says was a “thimbleful of Beringer (rosé, for that touch of class).”

Limon says his Xmas nightmare started after a police officer detained him after crossing a street in Downtown San Diego.

The officer, sans badge or ID tag, instructed me to surrender my identification, proceeded with what I believe was an illegal search and wrote me a jaywalking ticket. He mentioned—as I was spread against the car that, by signing it, I wasn’t admitting guilt.

“What happens if I don’t sign it?” I asked in a normal tone.

“That’s it!” he shouted. By then, a crowd had gathered, and the looks and giggles coming from the gaggle of gays had proven too much for him. He grabbed my right hand and began handcuffing me. Swift as a butterfly, I grabbed the pen and signed the ticket with my left. Therein lied the Catch-22.

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