FIRST OFF . . .

The judge in William Hurt’s palimony trial ruled on Tuesday that the actor and his ex-lover, former ballerina Sandra Jennings, did not have a common-law marriage, dashing her hopes of wresting as much as $5 million of his earnings to support their son. In a scathing, 15-page decision, New York Supreme Court Justice Jacqueline Silbermann accused Jennings of doctoring evidence and presenting witnesses who lied on her behalf. “I am thankful for the ruling which is a vindication of everything I have said,” Hurt said in a written statement distributed by his publicist. Hurt, 39, said he took on the court battle rather than trying to reach a settlement because “I simply could not continually give in to the pressures that have been constantly put on me for more and more money and other accommodations from Sandra Jennings and others.” Jennings’ lawyer, Richard Golub, accused the judge of becoming “star-struck” and smitten with Hurt during a volatile six-day trial in June. Jennings, 32, sought to prove she and Hurt had a common-law marriage under South Carolina law when they lived there together for five weeks during the filming of “The Big Chill” in 1982. They spent most of their 3 1/2-year relationship in Manhattan, but New York state does not recognize common-law marriage.