DOCUMENT: Celebrity

Manson, Minnelli Star In L.A. Law

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Manson, Minnelli Star In L.A. Law

Stepmom Sues Liza Minnelli

You can take the natural beauty, leggy starlets, and Shaquille O'Neal. TSG loves Los Angeles because the most intriguing lawsuits are filed in the city's Superior Court. To wit:

1) Marilyn Manson is being sued by the mother of an L.A. woman who died in an auto accident last April after binging on cocaine allegedly provided to her by the rock star. In Maria St. John's wrongful death lawsuit, which you'll find here, she charges that Manson (aka Brian Warner) gave her daughter Jennifer Syme "various quantities of an illegal controlled substance" which left the woman incapacitated and resulted in her losing control of her vehicle and crashing into "at least three parked cars." Syme was thrown from her car and died at the scene of the crash. According to St. John's complaint, Manson knew that Syme was suffering from depression "as a result of the loss of her unborn child in December 1999." As has been previously reported, actor Keanu Reeves was the child's father. (5 pages)

2) Turns out there was actually one person not invited to Liza Minnelli's glorious nuptials--her 94-year-old stepmother, who just sued the singer for breach of contract and elder abuse. Lee Anderson Minnelli claims that she was guaranteed housing in the will of her late husband Vincente Minnelli (Liza's pop), but that the performer is trying to force her from her Beverly Hills home by allowing the property to deteriorate, firing household employees, and allowing electricity to be shut on March 27. "While defendant is honeymooning all over the world, having fed 850 of her closest friends a 12-foot cake, plaintiff is alone in a cold, dark house," according to the lawsuit. The senior citizen had been invited to Minnelli's wedding to David Gest, but the offer was rescinded via this cold letter from the singer's lawyer. (13 pages)