Lindsay Lohan Gets More Moments of Court Glory

By Chris Georg
13:56, September 12th 2007
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Lindsay Lohan Gets More Moments of Court Glory

Actress Lindsay Lohan is due in court again over claims she was drunk when she crashed her Mercedes-Benz into a van two years ago.

Superior Court Judge Michael L. Stern rejected a motion that argued the lawsuit by Raymundo Ortega against Lohan, who is currently in rehab, lacked legal sufficiency, and set April 7 for the trial.

The judge gave Ortega's attorney, Robert G. Klein, until Sept. 21 to amend the lawsuit to include the allegation that Lohan's corporation, Crossheart Productions Inc., owns the actress' car.

The "Georgia Rule" star is being sued by Ortega who is seeking at least $200,000 in damages. In the court papers, he alleges that Lindsay was tipsy at the time of the crash, October 2005, and was reportedly trying to get away from the paparazzi.

"This is a bogus claim. Mr. Ortega is 100% at fault and Lindsay shouldn't have to pay anything," Lindsay's attorney, David J. Ozeran said.

According to Ortega’s lawyer, his client, a busboy, was knocked out in the crash while the 21-year-old starlet and her passenger were lightly scratched.

"This case is about responsibility and she's not taking responsibility," Klein said outside court. He reportedly spoke to an employee of the posh Hollywood eatery the Ivy who served Lohan, 19 years old at that time, alcohol.

However, according to Lindsay’s defense team, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's report on the incident found Ortega at fault after making a U-turn and crashing into Lindsay’s car. In a brief filed earlier this month, Lindsay’s legal team declared Ortega's claims to be "nothing but inflammatory statements" and seeking to dismiss portions of it, if not his entire complaint, E!Online reported.

"The mere presence of this type of allegation in the complaint is an attempt to embarrass [Lohan] with false allegations in order to use it as a battering ram to force a settlement," Lohan attorney Alfred Gerisch wrote in the brief.

After the incident, police in Los Angeles said the paparazzi were not to blame for the car crash.

"It appears it's the van's fault for making an illegal U-turn," a police spokesman was quoted as saying. He added that no drink or drugs were involved in the crash.

However, Klein asked the judge to consider the fact that Lindsay has been admitted to rehab for alcohol abuse shortly after the accident. The actress, who is now undergoing her third sting in rehab at a Utah rehabilitation clinic, will reportedly be released in less than two weeks.

She was recently charged with two counts of driving under the influence, driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal level and reckless driving, and sentenced to a day in jail and ten days of community service after crashing her car in May and being arrested for DUI twice.

Lindsay was also placed on 36 months probation and ordered to complete an 18-month alcohol education program, pay hundreds of dollars in fines and must complete a three-day county coroner program in which she'll visit a morgue and talk to victims of drunken drivers.



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