Ennis Cosby’s Friend Sues Tabloid Over Story

Murder cases and the tabloids . . . Home improvements . . . Faded photographs . . . Linda Evans gets exercised.

Ennis Cosby’s best friend is suing the National Enquirer over a story a year ago that reported he was jealous of Cosby and quarreled with him the night Cosby was murdered.

Phil Caputo’s Los Angeles Superior Court suit alleges that the article was wrong and seeks unspecified damages for defamation and invasion of privacy. The Enquirer stands by its story, and claims the information came from official police reports.

According to Caputo’s court papers, he and Cosby, son of entertainer Bill Cosby, played basketball the evening of the murder. They never argued over a woman, Caputo says in court papers, contrary to the tabloid’s report headlined “Ennis’ Quarrel With Jealous Pal Hours Before He Died.�

The tabloid says the information came from what Los Angeles police call their “Murder Book� on the case. But court papers filed by Caputo’s attorney, Jay Lavely, say Caputo never told police about an argument because it never happened.

Enquirer editor Steve Coz pointed out that the tabloid’s $100,000 reward offer helped crack the case. “To me it’s stupefying. . . . This is the thanks we get?� he said in an interview.

Mikail Markhasev was convicted of the Jan. 16, 1997, roadside murder of Cosby and was sentenced last August to life in prison without parole.

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ONE FOR KATO: Kato Kaelin, former tenant of O.J. Simpson’s guest house, finally won one round against the tabloids. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated his federal libel suit against a supermarket scandal sheet called the National Examiner, which ran this headline a week after Simpson’s acquittal: “Cops Think Kato Did It!� Kaelin was pictured in his underwear.

The “it� apparently had nothing to do with the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, but rather with suspicions that Kaelin was not entirely forthcoming on the witness stand. The tabloid argued that since the story was factual, the headline wasn’t libelous. But the court ruled that headlines can be libelous by themselves--and that the issue of whether this particular headline was should be left to a jury to decide.

Headlines, wrote Judge Barry Silverman, “are not irrelevant, extraneous or liability-free zones.�

The National Examiner is owned by Globe Communications. Michael Kahane, the company’s vice president and general counsel, said he disagreed with the appellate decision. After Simpson’s acquittal, he said, nobody seriously suspected Kaelin of committing the murders.

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THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: Comedian Tom Arnold, best known as Roseanne’s onetime tubby hubby, is suing a company called That’s Entertainment over the installation of a $113,000 home entertainment and electronic system. Arnold’s breach of contract suit, filed in Superior Court in Santa Monica, claims that the system was badly installed and is seeking $40,000 in compensation, the money he said he paid to other workers to fix the problems.

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WATCH THE BIRDIE: Rising star Charlize Theron, currently appearing in the film “Mighty Joe Young,� has sued a photographer over the sale of pictures taken five years ago. The photos, Theron claims, were intended only for her personal use and professional portfolio.

Now that she’s hit the big time, Theron alleges, Los Angeles photographer Guido Argentini is selling her image to everybody and anybody. Court papers did not elaborate how the closely cropped blond actress is depicted in the pictures. But Theron charges that the photo blitz has caused her to be associated with products and causes she doesn’t endorse, much to her “distress, anger and embarrassment.� The photographer could not be reached.

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FEEL THE BURN: Actress Linda Evans, most famous for her role in the 1980s television series “Dynasty,� is suing her partners in a string of fitness centers, claiming that they engaged in questionable business practices, cheated her and exploited her image.

Evans’ Santa Monica Superior Court suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, a financial accounting and removal of the company’s officers, as well as injunctions barring her partners from using her name and likeness to promote the fitness centers. According to court papers, Evans was to be minority partner in the Linda Evans Fitness Centers, while Mark Golob and Thomas Gergley, the majority shareholders, would run the facilities.

Evans says the two men put their wives on the payroll and ran up unauthorized expenses--including a birthday party for Gergley to which Evans was not invited.

Golob and Gergley could not be reached for comment. Evans is represented by Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.’s law office.