Thursday, August 09, 2007

This Is A Lawsuit Waiting To Happen

LA Rag Mag is reporting that Jessica Alba has herpes and that she got it from Derek Jeter. Their "source" used to work for Cash Warren (why exactly would Cash need employees) and as part of their job would refill Jessica's Valtrex prescriptions. Tell me why she wasn't getting this prescription refilled by mail?

Although the refill by mail thing is a big hole, I also don't think this story is true because I dream of having sex with Jessica Alba, and because it would have come out much sooner that Derek Jeter has herpes. He has been with some really big names like Mariah Carey, Jessica Biel and Vanessa Minnillo and I think it would have come out before.
So you are probably wondering, "EL, will Jessica and Derek sue?"

That's a very good question. Winning a defamation or libel suit can be very difficult in the US to win. If you are in the UK and a celebrity it is much easier to win, but the damages are smaller. In the US the celebrity has to prove not only that the story was false, but ALSO that the publisher of the story was malicious which means they knew or had to reason to know that the story was false and published it anyway. Kind of a reckless disregard for the truth.

That is a very difficult burden to overcome. Plus, in lawsuits there is this little thing called discovery which includes depositions. How would you like someone like me grilling Jessica Alba for 5 or 6 hours about everything in her sex life and her relationships? Not fun.

If they are clean, and they have the guts to fight, then they should sue, but even if they don't sue it doesn't mean they have herpes, it just means the fight isn't worth it. I will be interested to see if there is any fallout from this at all.


12 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:26 PM

    dude if jeter or alba doesn't have herpes there is no way they don't sue. stuff like this is why you post something as a blind item. and this is also getting talked about outside of the gossip websites so if jeter and alba don't sue then i guess we can all assume that they both have herpes.

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  2. Call me a sicko, a pathetic chump, a loser but even it was true I would still do her. I need help...I always thought Derek "played for the same team" but he's an animal. When they came out to play the Angels he ended up partying at a Newport hotel and went up to his room (the team hotel was at a different hotel)with 3 nuggets. An hour later the girls were walking through the lobby looking all dishevelled and carrying their heels. Looks like Derek saved his HR's for after the game.

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  3. i'd sue any mofo who slandered my vajayjay.

    i'd say this whole story was planted by lil Cash himself to scare all the boys from the yard.
    Douche.

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  4. Or is this an answer to a blind about the star in the doctors office that went ballistic when she found out she had a gift that kept on giving?

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  5. Anonymous3:10 PM

    Ent: correct me if I'm wrong, but their lawyers can still serve/file papers (which then get posted on TMZ/smoking gun) to say that they heartily disagree with this statement, and then withdraw that filing on the provision that they are not going to find malice in the part of the publisher?

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  6. DN

    Yes,techinically. One of the things that I would want to do is just to sue for the sake of suing and force the other side to spend a bunch of money and then dismiss. The problem with that is if you know going in that you are just going to do it to make the other side miserable, then it is unethical and you can get sued for doing it.

    Of course the other side would have to prove you had no intention of following through which is also difficult, but it can be relatively easy in that situation to get your legal fees paid.

    There is also something in California which is unique in that the lawyers for Jessica, et al have to ask LA Rag to retract the story prior to any suit being filed. If they file a suit without asking for the retraction first, they risk their suit being thrown out with prejudice meaning they wouldn't be able to refile it again.

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  7. I'm just glad they used that photo of Mariah in my girl Anna's bikini!

    Seeing that never gets old.

    (Sorry, DS - if I could be there on Friday, you know what you'd be getting as a present!!!!)

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  8. I'm at a point that everyone in Hollywood has herpes.

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  9. Aren't you doing a public service by essentially telling us who NOT to sleep with in Hollywood? Some of these people really get around and you never know when one of us innocent bystanders would fall for them... ;)

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  10. Re the above comment: "if jeter and alba don't sue then i guess we can all assume that they both have herpes"

    You shouldn't make this assumption...I'm a lawyer as well, and Ent is 100% correct. The element of malice would be very difficult to prove, and discovery/ depositions would be very invasive of their privacy. Could you imagine hours of videotape deposition where Alba's got to give up her entire sexual history? Her gynie records would also be fair game. The Court could order certain discovery to remain sealed/confidential, but there is never any guarantee. Moreover, some a**hole lawyers leak information that is supposed to remain sealed/confidential.

    In the end, it may just not be worth the hassle.

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  11. Anonymous5:57 AM

    I'm a court reporter and let me just say that I would personally fly out to LA to cover these depos...for free.

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  12. Couldn't Jessica sue Jeter for giving her herpes? Isn't there a DNA trace for that? And if they both do have herpes I'm sure we won't see a magazine suit.

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