Lawsuit over Crowe's Cinderella Man injury

An insurance company is suing to prevent the production company behind 2005 film Cinderella Man claiming compensation for Renee Zellweger after Russell Crowe's shoulder injury delayed filming. Crowe hurt his shoulder during training for the role of boxer James J. Braddock and subsequently delayed the seven-week shoot by another seven weeks. Clarendon National Insurance Company has now filed a lawsuit against Omnikrom in Los Angeles Superior Court in a bid to prevent them from asking for $3.4 million compensation for Zellweger's loss of earnings during that time. However, the firm insists it has already paid out almost $6 million in claims to cover Crowe's surgery and rehabilitation and other production delays. It also claims in the lawsuit that the production company did not file the claim until July 2005, at least five months after the balance of the insurance claims were paid, and thus they should not be required to cover the cost of Zellweger's extra fee.

"Borat" driver's ed teacher sues Fox

A driving instructor has sued the makers of the movie "Borat," accusing them of lying to him about the nature of the crass comedy by telling him he'd be in a documentary about the integration of immigrants into U.S. life. The lawsuit was brought Tuesday by lawyers for Michael Psenicska, a Baltimore high school mathematics teacher who has owned a driving school in Perry Hall, Md., for the last 32 years.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeks $100,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages, saying the hit movie earned hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. It says Psenicska is entitled to damages because defendants, including producer Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and star Sacha Baron Cohen, used images of him extensively in advertising the film, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." Psenicska's lawsuit says Fox and Cohen fraudulently induced him to sign documents approving his appearance in "Borat" just before he was filmed giving Cohen's Borat Sagdiyev character a driving lesson.

According to the lawsuit, the film's staffers had promised they were producing a documentary about the integration of foreign people into the American way of life, a subject that interested Psenicska because he was in the business of teaching foreigners to drive. Yet, it says, when filming began, Borat did a hugging and kissing routine, struggled with his seat belt like a child, drove on the wrong side of the road, made ethnic slurs, said women had small brains and rolled down a window and offered a female pedestrian $10 for "sexy time."

Twentieth Century Fox spokesman Gregg Brilliant said Psenicska consented to the filming. "He signed a release, and we have an agreement," Brilliant said. "Now, 2 1/2 years after giving his consent and more than one year after the movie was released, Mr. Psenicska has decided to file a lawsuit, citing the financial success of the film, in spite of our agreement."

Haggis, Hatcher in breach of contract suits

"Crash" director Paul Haggis is suing one of his co-producers on the Oscar-winning movie over $4.7 million in unpaid royalties. Haggis claims he is owed the millions in profits from the film and has accused Bob Yari of breach of contract. The filmmaker is disputing an agreement signed in 2002 regarding the distribution of royalties, which depended on the film's financial success. "Crash," which went on to win three Academy Awards, was originally made on a budget of just $6.5 million plus $1 million in financing, but went on to gross over $100 million worldwide - more than 10 times its original cost. However, Yari has argued in court documents that the movie was not as profitable as it seemed, because various additional production costs had not been taken into account. Haggis is not the only person suing Yari over the film's financial issues - legal suits have also been launched by Bobby Moresco, who co-wrote the film, and co-producer Cathy Schulman.

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A beauty company is suing Teri Hatcher for allegedly breaking a contract by promoting rival products. Legal papers, filed by executives at Hydroderm skincare in Los Angeles on Tuesday, claim the Desperate Housewives actress promoted other beauty items, despite the fact she was paid $2.4 million to solely advertise Hydroderm products. The lawsuit reads: "Hatcher's name, image and likeness have been linked to so many competitors' products that it is anyone's guess as to what product keeps her skin and lips youthful." Hydroderm is seeking Hatcher's $2.4 million salary, unspecified damages and its legal costs.