LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A Washington, D.C., couple is suing the Hard Rock Hotel and MTV, claiming invasion of privacy during a reality TV show prank.
James and Laurie Ryan are suing the Las Vegas resort and the network for $10 million over the TV series "Harassment." Their case was moved early this month from Superior Court in Los Angeles to federal court in Washington, D.C.
The lawsuit said the couple believed they were going to be spending a vacation at the hotel in January. Instead, the Ryans were given a room with hidden cameras that captured their shock as they discovered what appeared to be a mutilated corpse in the bathroom.
When they tried to leave the room, two actors posing as security guards forced them back inside until Ashton Kutcher, the show's host and co-producer, emerged to reveal the gag.
Kutcher has described the show in interviews as a "Guerrilla Candid Camera."
The complaint alleged invasion of privacy, fraud and infliction of emotional distress. The Ryans' Washington, D.C., attorney, Dan Rozansky, expects the case to go to trial sometime next year.
Don Marrandino, Hard Rock's president, said Monday he hadn't seen a copy of the lawsuit. MTV representatives declined comment.
NEW YORK -- A trial in which Woody Allen accused two former producers of cheating him out of $12 million ended with a settlement of the filmmaker's lawsuit.
Lawyers refused to reveal the settlement's terms, and at their request state Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman agreed to keep them confidential.
The settlement came on the trial's ninth day. Allen's lawyer, Michael Zweig, issued a joint statement:
"The parties have reached a business resolution of the dispute. The case is over"
Allen had sued producer Jean Doumanian and her business partner and boyfriend, Jacqui Safra, saying they cheated him out of his share of profits on eight movies made since 1993.
During the trial, Allen testified that it would once have been unthinkable to sue Doumanian, a friend for 30 years, but "it was too much money to just cavalierly walk away."
A defense lawyer said in opening statements that Doumanian had been a "heroine" who rescued Allen's movie career, and she testified that she considered Allen ungrateful. Safra said they backed Allen financially because they wanted to help "a friend in need."
The dispute centered on Allen's contract for the first three movies with Doumanian and Safra. The agreement said money from the winners and losers was to be pooled to determine whether the films made a profit.
