Big Names Lose a Few Rounds During a Litigious Year

They could have been contenders: The spoils of Los Angeles’ celebrity civil wars belonged to the unknowns in 1997, the Davids who bagged millions in court from entertainment giants like Disney and Spelling. To celebrate the end of a busy year of litigation, the Court Files hosts its first annual Courthouse Oscars.

HERE’S TO THE WINNERS: Marsupilami, a spotted little cartoon critter with a springy tail who’s all the rage with tots in Europe, could have been a contender in the U.S. Even Disney Chairman Michael Eisner was impressed. “Marsu could be the next Mickey Mouse,” he once said.

But, after buying the rights to Marsu, Disney put him on the back burner. His career went nowhere while Disney’s merry marketeers busied themselves with their own lucrative animation projects, such as Aladdin.

Ruling that Disney broke its promise to make Marsu a star, a federal judge ordered Disney to pay $10.4 million in damages to the cartoon’s corporate handlers.

His creator, Belgian cartoonist Andre Franquin, who according to attorney Patricia Glaser once thought he was making “the deal of a lifetime,” died in January, before the case was decided.

Honorable mention to vixen-rights actress Hunter Tylo, who proved to a Los Angeles Superior Court jury that even on “Melrose Place,” pregnancy is not a firing offense. Also to Jeffrey Katzenberg, who settled his $250-million suit with Disney over his postpartum bonuses for a sum that was undisclosed but no doubt much more than most of us will ever see.

LOSERS: Poor Aaron Spelling. Those words aren’t often invoked in the same sentence. But the gazillionaire entertainment mogul went 0-2 with Los Angeles Superior Court juries. He sued his contractor for $5 million over the leaky roof at his $50-million Holmby Hills mansion, but lost in a trial last summer. Then, last week, his production companies were docked $5 million in damages when a jury sided with actress Tylo in her pregnancy discrimination case. Honorable mention to Kato Kaelin, who sued a supermarket tabloid for libel and lost. A judge then ordered Brentwood’s most famous former house guest to pick up the tabloid’s rather sizable legal bill. And to Harry Perzigian, who sued “All in the Family” star Carroll O’Connor for calling him a drug dealer. A civil jury found last summer that Perzigian actually was a drug dealer and didn’t deserve a dime from O’Connor. Later in the year, Perzigian was jumped and assaulted outside his home and was also arrested for driving under the influence.

MOST OVEREXPOSED: A three-way tie. Brad Pitt sued to pull magazines with photos of a nude frolic with former gal pal Gwynneth Paltrow off newsstands, with mixed success. By the time the courts granted Pitt his highly unusual recall, most of the copies of the August issue of Playgirl had been snapped up.

Motley Crue’s tattooed Tommy Lee and his shapely spouse, Pamela Anderson Lee, formerly of “Baywatch” fame, spent an extraordinary amount of time trying in vain to block distribution of a purloined sex tape of their honeymoon romps on land and sea, complete with rapt “ooohs,” “aaahs” and “you’re so beautifuls.” The couple lost their bid for a restraining order against Penthouse and eventually settled the case with the Seattle adult entertainment entrepreneur who used his World Wide Web site to disseminate the tape, allegedly taken two years ago from a safe in the couple’s Malibu home while it was being remodeled.

As for the tape, it soon will be available in adult video stores too. Ironic, considering that Pamela Lee earlier had prevailed in a suit filed against her by the producers of the cable flick “Hello, She Lied.” In that case, she told jurors she backed out of appearing in the movie because she objected to steamy simulated sex scenes.

BEST OF THE EX FILES: Make up to break up was all Dudley and Nicole Moore seemed to do. The on-again, off-again pair announced they were on again in the courtroom where Carroll O’Connor’s slander trial was being held, only to break up for good a few weeks later. Among the mud slung: She alleges that he made her dance for hours at a time in her underwear.

Jean-Claude Van Damme and model Darcy Lapier split and reconciled and broke up again; the couple has filed for divorce four times since their 1994 marriage. Also calling it quits were Geena Davis and Renny Harlin, Jim Carrey and Lauren Holley and Billy Bob Thornton and Pietra Thornton.

The award goes to Mike Tyson’s ex, Robin Givens, who recently filed papers to end a one-day marriage.

ALPHABET SUITS: Warren G and Garth Brooks sued each other in federal court over use of the letter “g.”

MOST LITIGIOUS CELEBS: It’s tough to break out of the pack, but Sylvester Stallone and Francis Ford Coppola distinguished themselves by litigating with the dead. Stallone has yet to drop a suit against slain fashion designer Gianni Versace, while Coppola sued astronomer Carl Sagan’s estate over rights to the film “Contact.”

Jilted model Kelly Fisher showed some class by dropping her suit against Dodi Fayed after he was killed along with Princess Diana in a Paris car crash. Then she told television viewers that Dodi might still be alive today if he’d stayed with her.

HOME IMPROVEMENT: Cher was labeled a “spoiled and manipulative entertainer” in a lawsuit recently filed by the builder of her new Malibu dream house after she dumped him from the project and allegedly bad-mouthed him. Meanwhile, undeterred by their lack of success in court this year, Aaron and Candy Spelling continue to pursue a civil suit against another contractor over their allegedly defective pool.

STAR-STRUCK: Alicia Silverstone and Tim Allen were sued for striking pedestrians in crosswalks with their cars. Silverstone was driving a Bronco, while Allen was behind the wheel of a Ferrari. Since he had the best car, the tool man wins.

MOST WRETCHED EXCESS: Death Row Records’ allegedly unpaid $1.67-million American Express bill and $1.25-million jewelry tab.

QUOTE OF THE YEAR: “You don’t have to be a pencil to seduce a man.”

--Hunter Tylo, the $5-million woman