© Rafael Amado Deras

Litigious Lohan

Lindsay Lohan has been the defendant in more than one court case over the years, but this time she's the one doing the suing. The actress filed a lawsuit against the musician Pitbull, whose song “Give Me Everything” includes the lyrics “I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan.” According to Lohan's suit, the lyrics caused “tremendous emotional distress” and damaged her image “as a professional actor of good repute.”

Pitbull countered that, as Lohan is a public figure, his words are protected free speech under the First Amendment. He added that TV and radio personality Ryan Seacrest, whose name also appears in the song, did not sue over the lyrics.

Bogus Bagels

Is “Brooklynized water” the real secret behind authentic New York bagels? The Florida-based Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. claims to have discovered a water filtration process that replicates Brooklyn water, which is then used to boil the perfect bagel. Businessman Andrew Greenbaum was so convinced that he bought franchise rights for the restaurant in three counties. Now he is suing the company, saying that the water filtration process is a sham, and that the company's bagels cannot compare to their New York counterparts.

“The water filtration system is not unique and does not render water equivalent to Brooklyn water,” said Robert Zarco, Greenbaum's attorney. “You want Brooklyn water, go to Brooklyn. You want a Brooklyn bagel, go to Brooklyn.” To prove this assertion, Zarco will hire experts to compare the composition of the company's water to real Brooklyn tap water.

Modeling Meltdown

After winning the TV competition “Holland's Next Top Model,” Dutch model Ananda Marchildon netted a three-year contract with Elite Model Management worth $98,500. But after Marchildon had completed just $13,000 of work, the agency fired her for failing to lose weight off her 36 inch hips. Now a judge has ruled that Elite must pay the model the remaining money on her contract, plus interest and legal fees.

The case included e-mails from an Elite representative, who repeatedly reminded the 5'11” model that “[Elite] agreed that you would come by us every two weeks for an evaluation, how it's going with your diet and exercise and losing weight. We're going to keep measuring you.” Marchildon, who now makes her living as a cabinetmaker, said that the agency “shouldn't have let me win, if they can't be true to their word. It's as simple as that.”