Privacy to Be Key Issue in Baldwin-Paparazzo Civil Case

The courtroom battle between actor Alec Baldwin and a paparazzo with whom he tangled outside his Woodland Hills home during his newborn daughter’s homecoming was framed Thursday as not only a dispute over who attacked whom, but also a debate over the fuzzy issue of a movie star’s private life.

“He may have a certain celebrity status, but this was one instance where he did have a reasonable expectation of privacy,” Philip D. Weiss, Baldwin’s lawyer, told a Van Nuys jury as the civil trial opened Thursday.

Photographer Alan Zanger ruined the day by parking outside Baldwin’s home and filming the actor, his wife, Kim Basinger, and their newborn daughter Ireland in what Weiss called an invasion of their privacy.

“I don’t think his claim has any merit and the jury will see that,” said Zanger’s lawyer, Leonard Steiner, who grilled prospective jurors on their feelings about the death of Princess Diana. Zanger, 53, has asked for damages for assault, battery, negligence and infliction of emotional distress.

Zanger was legally parked on a city street across from Baldwin’s home, and well within his constitutional rights when he turned his palm-sized video camera on the celebrity household and filmed the family’s return from the hospital Oct. 26, 1995, Steiner said.

Baldwin, 40, noticed Zanger’s customized pickup truck, and covered the camper’s windows with shaving cream. The two sides differ on what happened next.

Zanger claims he was terrified, and jumped out of the pickup so he could get away. He claimed he was attacked by Baldwin, who smashed him in the face, then kicked him in the rear.

Baldwin has said he saw Zanger get out of the car with his camera, and he approached Zanger to tell him to stop filming. He claims Zanger continued to film, then quickly raised his camera, startling the actor, who slapped it away, accidentally hitting the photographer in the face.

Baldwin was arrested after the incident, but a jury acquitted him, with several jurors saying Zanger’s credibility was shot when he admittedly exaggerated accounts of the confrontation in a news interview.

As the trial opened, Steiner was clearly concerned about the image of his client--and paparazzi in general. He brought up Princess Diana’s death in a fatal accident while allegedly being chased by celebrity photographers, asking prospective jurors whether it had affected them to the extent that they might hold it against Zanger.

Baldwin’s lawyers will paint Zanger as a “stalkerazzi” who has been quoted as saying: “My camera is like a gun and the stars are my prey.”

Zanger’s lawyers on Thursday portrayed him as a Vietnam vet who went on to become a professional photographer. Steiner stressed Zanger’s college education, his years on the staff of United Press International and said his client’s photographs have been published on the front pages of “just about every major newspaper and magazine around the world.”

“We’re not talking about someone who’s not a member of the legitimate press,” he added. “We’re talking about someone who is an esteemed and established member of the legitimate press.”

On the stand, Zanger stressed that confrontation is not his style. He said he prefers staking out his subjects, stealthily snapping his shots and disappearing before they know he’s been there.

His testimony will continue Today. Baldwin is expected to testify next week.