Lindsay Lohan's lawyer filed a 10-page brief Friday in Los Angeles to dismiss all or part of a negligence suit against her because of a 2005 car crash, saying the plaintiff's claim that Lohan was drunk when she hit his van is nothing but "a battering ram to force a settlement.
Ortega sued Lohan and West Hollywood nightclub the Ivy on June 14 for at least 200,000 U.S. dollars in damages, alleging in his complaint that the Georgia Rule star got tipsy during lunch and then, as she was looking over her shoulder and recklessly barreling north on Robertson Blvd., smashed into his vehicle with her Mercedes.
"These are nothing but inflammatory statements," Gerisch's brief states. "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."
Gerisch refers to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's report on the incident, which states that alcohol was not a factor in the crash and that Ortega was at fault for hooking an illegal U-turn right in front of Lohan, who was referred to as an "innocent victim" at the time.
Ortega's attorney, Robert G. Klein, has criticized Gerisch for using the police report as so-called evidence, calling the document hearsay. Klein stated in a recent court filing that he has witnesses who will testify that Lohan was speeding and was served alcohol "shortly before the accident."
Klein has also said the judge should take judicial notice of media reports about Lohan's recent DUI-related troubles, including the fact that she's checked into rehab twice this year, both times before she had even reached the legal drinking age.
"The fact that Ms. Lohan was admitted to rehab for alcohol abuse shortly after this accident raised a presumption that at the time of his accident she was under the influence," Klein's filing reads.
Source: Xinhua/agencies
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