Fairly Legal

Dak Prescott claims a woman is threatening to go public with false sexual assault allegations against him if he doesn't pay her $100 million ... and now, he's suing to try to put a stop to it all.

The Dallas Cowboys superstar filed the lawsuit in Collin County, Texas on Monday ... alleging the woman, Victoria Shores, spelled out her extortion plot in a letter to him and his representatives back on Feb. 13.

Prescott claims Shores alleged in her letter that he assaulted her in Feb. 2017 -- just after his rookie season with the Cowboys had concluded. He said in the suit that if and only if he paid her $100 mil, she'd stay silent about it all.

The quarterback's attorneys, however, said emphatically in the lawsuit Monday, "Mr. Prescott has never engaged in any nonconsensual sexual behavior with anyone."

In fact, they wrote, "the timeline of events and [Shores'] actions in the years since the alleged assault are consistent with being involved with only consensual actions with Mr. Prescott."

"The fact that Mr. Prescott did not hear a single negative thing about this supposed interaction from nearly a decade ago is truly telling of" Shores' motives.

Prescott is now suing the woman and her lawyers for defamation, slander, civil extortion/duress and more.

Prescott's attorney, Levi McCathern, wrote in a statement to TMZ Sports on Monday evening, "Lies hurt. Especially, malicious lies. We will not allow the Defendant and her legal team to profit from this attempt to extort millions from Mr. Prescott."

A whistleblower who was at war with Boeing died last week -- and investigators say it appears he took his own life, this while he was embroiled in a lawsuit against the company.

John Barnett was discovered dead on Saturday out in Charleston, SC -- where cops say his body was found in his truck in a hotel parking lot ... with him suffering an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No word on if foul play is suspected -- but police are investigating.

Barnett's attorney, Brian Knowles, called the passing of his client "tragic" ... and went on to express explicit doubt about the circumstances of his death, making sure to call the self-inflicted gunshot wound cops are citing as "alleged."

What's more startling is Barnett was literally in the midst of a whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing -- his former employer of 32 years -- as he was alleging retaliation for sounding the alarm on what he characterized as cutting corners on assembly lines for their planes.

This is a drum Barnett had been beating for a long time -- and he even came on "TMZ Live" recently to address issues that Boeing's 737 Max aircraft had been experiencing lately.

Of course, the one incident that comes to mind is a door blowing off a 737 flight mid-air in January ... which left the passengers clinging to dear life as the plane tried to land safely.

Barnett -- a former quality manager at Boeing -- spoke with us and said he wasn't surprised by the mishap ... alleging he'd seen Boeing turn a blind eye to safety concerns for years. He also told us that Boeing's 737 Max aircraft being given the green light to fly again so soon after the Alaska Airlines incident was alarming ... suggesting it might've been unsafe.

Fast-forward to last week ... when Barnett was in the middle of depositions in his case against Boeing. The company released a statement and said it was saddened by his death.

He was 62.

El testamento de Matthew Perry establece que sus pertenencias se dejarán en un fideicomiso que él creó con el nombre de un famoso personaje de Woody Allen.

Según nuevos documentos legales obtenidos por TMZ, Matthew creó un testamento en 2009 y expresó su deseo de dejar la mayoría de sus pertenencias en un fideicomiso. Resulta que Matthew debió de ser un gran admirador de "Annie Hall", ya que creó un fideicomiso llamado Alvy Singer Living Trust, y el dinero que tenía en su poder antes de su fallecimiento se destinarán a este fideicomiso.

Los documentos enumeran el valor de sus propiedades personales en poco más de $1 millón al momento de su fallecimiento. Cabe destacar que este millón de dólares es lo que los ejecutores encontraron como activos adicionales que aún no están en este fideicomiso privado. En otras palabras, no refleja con precisión su patrimonio neto. De hecho, es probable que Matthew tuviera muchos millones más; esto es simplemente adicional.

No sabemos quiénes son los fiduciarios, pero Matthew especifica en su testamento que cualquier hijo que pueda haber tenido después de 2009 no tiene derecho explícito a su fortuna. Por cierto, nunca tuvo hijos.

Dos mujeres llamadas Lisa Ferguson y Robin Ruzan, quien es la exesposa de Mike Myers, figuran como las ejecutoras de su testamento. Serán las encargadas de tomar decisiones sobre cómo repartir y gestionar sus propiedades. Robin y Matthew trabajaron juntos en el mismo programa llamado "Celebrity Liar" a principios de la década de 2010: ella era la productora ejecutiva y él era un concursante.

Como informó TMZ, Matthew falleció en octubre después de ahogarse en su jacuzzi personal en casa, y una autopsia determinó que tenía ketamina en su sistema en ese momento.

Matthew Perry's will is leaving his stuff in a trust he established that's named after a famous Woody Allen character ... TMZ has learned.

Per new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Matthew created a will in 2009 ... and he says he wants to leave a majority of his belongings to a trust -- and as it turns out, Matt must've been a big fan of "Annie Hall" ... 'cause he created a trust called the Alvy Singer Living Trust -- and the dough/assets he had on hand before he died are set to go into the trust.

The docs list the value of his personal property when he died at a little over $1 million. We should note ... this million bucks and change is what the executors found as additional assets that are not already in this private trust. In other words, it's not an accurate reflection of his net worth. Fact is ... Matthew probably had millions upon millions more ... this is just extra.

We don't know who the trustees are ... but Matt makes a distinction in his will that any kids he may have post-2009 are explicitly not entitled to his fortune. He never had children, BTW.

Two women named Lisa Ferguson and Robin Ruzan -- who's Mike Myers' ex-wife -- are listed as executors of his will. They'll be the ones in charge of making decision about how to divvy up and manage his property. Robin and Matt worked on the same game show called "Celebrity Liar" together back in the 2010s ... she was an EP and he was a contestant.

TMZ broke the story ... Matthew died in October after drowning in his personal hot tub at home -- and an autopsy later determined he had ketamine in his system when it happened.

The father of Christmas Abbott's kid is off the hook in his revenge porn case ... as prosecutors in North Carolina have dropped all the charges against him.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, prosecutors dismissed the case against Benjamin Bunn -- who shares a 5-year-old son with the 'Big Brother' alum -- due to insufficient evidence.

We broke the story ... Bunn was arrested back in October, and hit with 3 counts of disclosure of private images after Christmas told cops Bunn was behind a fake online profile pretending to be her, and posting her adult content she published behind a paywall.

Police investigated and got a warrant to arrest Bunn, but now prosecutors say there just isn't enough evidence to bring this case before a jury.

Meanwhile, Christmas has also made domestic violence claims against her estranged husband Memphis Garrett, and even got a temporary restraining order against him before he filed for divorce.

El padre del niño de Christmas Abbott puede estar tranquilo, ya que los fiscales de Carolina del Norte han retirado todos los cargos en su contra.

De acuerdo con nuevos documentos legales, obtenidos por TMZ, los fiscales desestimaron el caso contra Benjamin Bunn -que comparte un hijo de 5 años de edad con la estrella de "Gran Hermano" alumbre- debido a la insuficiencia de pruebas.

Publicamos la noticia... Bunn fue detenido en octubre y acusado de tres cargos de divulgación de imágenes privadas luego de que Christmas le dijera a la policía que Bunn estaba detrás de un perfil falso en línea, haciéndose pasar por ella, y publicó contenido para adultos en un muro de pago.

La policía investigó y obtuvo una orden de arresto contra Bunn, pero ahora los fiscales dicen que simplemente no hay pruebas suficientes para llevar este caso ante un jurado.

Mientras tanto, Christmas también ha hecho denuncias de violencia doméstica contra su marido Memphis Garrett, e incluso obtuvo una orden de restricción temporal contra él antes de que pidiera el divorcio.

The director of 'The Holdovers' is being accused of ripping off another Hollywood creative, who claims the guy hijacked his own years-old script in what he calls outright plagiarism.

Simon Stephenson -- whose story/writing credits include 'Luca,' 'Paddington 2' and other big hits -- levied a heavy plagiarism allegation against Alexander Payne earlier this year with none other than the WGA ... and his claims are just now coming to light publicly.

According to Variety -- which has reviewed and published emails from this whole ordeal -- Stephenson hit up some WGA honchos to complain that Payne's script/story for 'The Holdovers' was a "brazen" ripoff of a script he wrote back in 2013 called 'Frisco.'

Not only are the plots nearly identical, Stephenson alleges, but he goes on to claim there is "line-by-line" replication ... adding he has proof Payne reviewed his screenplay in years past.

Stephenson wrote in one of his emails to WGA, "I’ve been a working writer for 20 years -- in my native U.K. before I came to the U.S. -- and so I’m very aware that people can often have surprisingly similar ideas and sometimes a few elements can be ‘borrowed,’ etc."

He adds emphatically ... "This just isn’t that situation. The two screenplays are forensically identical and riddled with unique smoking guns throughout."

Stephenson was reportedly told his gripes were not a guild issue, and that he might need to consider a lawsuit to address his concerns -- no word on whether he's done that yet.

As for Payne -- who's not a writer on 'Holdovers,' but who says he heavily supervised the script-writing process -- he's publicly said his flick is loosely inspired by a 1935 French film.

La carrera de Jonathan Majors en Hollywood aún no ha terminado, incluso con su sentencia acercándose, él ha estado yendo al gimnasio a tiempo completo para ponerse en forma para un próximo papel en una película y nos dejó tener un vistazo de su rutina.

Fuentes cercanas a Majors le dicen a TMZ que el actor estuvo en Los Ángeles una semana, entrenando duro en el gimnasio y poniéndose en forma para un posible rol antes de volar de regreso a Nueva York.

No se sabe cuál podría ser ese papel, pero nos dicen que requeriría que él esté en increíble forma y es por eso que estaba entrenando tan intensamente.

Nuestras fuentes dicen que Jonathan tiene como objetivo verse súper musculoso, como un superhéroe musculoso, y el video muestra que se está acercando bastante a su meta.

Jonathan solía ser una estrella de Marvel antes de que el estudio lo dejara luego de que un jurado de Nueva York lo declarara culpable por el delito menor de agresión y acoso por el ahora famoso incidente con su ex novia, Grace Jabbari.

Nos dicen que Jonathan está haciendo ejercicio con sus entrenadores habituales, quienes lo están poniendo en plena forma.

Nuestras fuentes dicen que durante el próximo mes Jonathan viajará entre Los Ángeles y Nueva York para ver a Meagan Good y entrenar en L.A.

Lo que no está claro es cuándo comenzaría el rodaje de la película, si lo consigue, el tiempo es esencial, suponiendo que tenga que hacerlo antes de ser sentenciado.

Jonathan Majors' Hollywood career isn't over yet -- even as his sentencing looms, he's going full gym rat, getting in shape for an upcoming film shoot ... and we got a glimpse of his routine.

Sources close to Majors tell TMZ … he was in L.A. for a week, hitting the gym hard and training for a possible gig before flying back to New York.

No word on what Jonathan's potential role might be, but we're told it would require him to be in incredible shape ... and that's why he was training so intensely.

Our sources say Jonathan's aiming to get shredded -- like superhero ripped -- and the video shows he's getting pretty close to that goal.

Remember, Jonathan was a Marvel star before the studio dropped him immediately after a New York jury found him guilty of misdemeanor assault and harassment for the now-infamous incident with his ex-GF, Grace Jabbari.

We're told Jonathan's working out with his regular trainers, who are getting him in tip-top shape.

For the next month or so, our sources say Jonathan will be shuffling back and forth between visiting Meagan Good in New York and training in Los Angeles.

What's unclear is when the movie shoot would begin -- if he lands it, time is of the essence ... assuming he'd have to get it done before he's sentenced.

The Vermont man who crashed into Treat Williams -- resulting in the beloved actor's death -- is pleading guilty to a reduced charge, and, as a result, he will not go to prison.

Ryan Koss pled guilty on Friday to negligent driving with death resulting. Koss was turning into a parking lot last June when he collided with Treat, who was riding his motorcycle. Although he was wearing a helmet, and was airlifted to a hospital for treatment, Treat did not survive his injuries.

In exchange for his plea, Koss is getting a one-year deferred sentence, probation and his license is revoked for a year. In addition, he'll have to complete a community restorative justice program for the misdemeanor charge.

Prosecutors say Koss has fully cooperated, and been accountable for the tragedy from the start, and even called Treat's wife from the scene of the accident to tell her what had happened.

During Friday's hearing, he said, “I’m here to apologize and take responsibility for this tragic accident.” Interestingly, Treat's family was not interested in pressing charges or seeing Koss do time.

Treat's son, Gill, was in court and told Koss, “I do forgive you, and I hope that you forgive yourself." Treat's wife, Pam, expressed a similar sentiment in a statement that was read in court ... but she added, “Our lives will never be the same, our family has been torn apart and there is a huge hole that can’t possibly be filled."

Koss had originally been facing up to 15 years in prison ... as he'd been charged with gross negligent operation with death resulting, a felony. He pled not guilty to that charge, before copping a plea for the reduced misdemeanor charge.

La cárcel es un infierno para Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. La armadora de "Rust" no lo está pasando bien mientras espera la sentencia por su condena de homicidio involuntario.

El abogado de Hannah, Jason Bowles, le dice a TMZ que ella está teniendo un tiempo muy difícil en el centro de detención de Nuevo México.

Nos dicen que la familia de Hannah ya se está organizando para ir a visitarla y sus seres queridos se encuentran devastados con la sentencia de culpabilidad por el homicidio involuntario de Halyna Hutchins mediante a un disparo.

Hannah fue declarada culpable el miércoles y rápidamente fue ingresada en el Centro de Detención de Adultos del Condado de Santa Fe, donde posó para una foto policial.

Como bien saben, Hannah era la armera que estaba en el set de la película "Rust" cuando Alec Baldwin le disparó a Halyna con un arma de utilería cargada con munición real durante una escena.

El abogado de Hannah dice que van a apelar su condena e intentarán anular el veredicto y la sentencia.

Hannah fue declarada culpable de homicidio involuntario, pero fue considerada inocente del cargo de manipulación de pruebas.

Recuerden, la defensa de Hannah atribuyó el accidente a que ella estaba sobrecargada con el trabajo de producción, y su equipo legal insistió en que el disparo fatal de Halyna no tuvo nada que ver con Hannah.

El abogado de Hannah dice que la sala quedó conmocionada cuando se emitió el veredicto de culpabilidad y parece que ella está lidiando con su propia conmoción mientras se adapta a su vida tras las rejas.

Jail is hell for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed ... the "Rust" armorer is having a tough time behind bars as she awaits sentencing for her manslaughter conviction.

Hannah's lawyer, Jason Bowles, tells TMZ ... she is having a really ​difficult time in her new digs, a New Mexico detention center.

We're told Hannah's family is already setting up a time to visit her ... and her loved ones have been devastated by her guilty verdict for involuntary manslaughter in the accidental shooting death of Halyna Hutchins.

Hannah was found guilty Wednesday and was quickly booked into the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility, posing for a mug shot.

As you know ... Hannah was the armorer on the "Rust" movie set when Alec Baldwin shot Halyna with a prop gun loaded with live ammunition during a scene.

Hannah's lawyer says they will be appealing her conviction, seeking to overturn the verdict and judgment.

While Hannah was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, she was found not guilty of evidence tampering.

Remember, Hannah's defense blamed the accident on her being overworked by the production, and her legal team insisted Halyna's fatal shooting wasn't on Hannah at all.

Hannah's attorney says the courtroom was shocked when the guilty verdict was returned ... and it sounds like she's dealing with shock of her own as she tries to adjust to life behind bars.

Bad Bunny está enojado con un fan que, según él, publicó imágenes no autorizadas de un concierto suyo en una cuenta de YouTube y ahora está demandando al tipo.

Según una nueva demanda obtenida por TMZ, Bad Bunny afirma que un hombre llamado Eric Guillermo Madronal Garrone publicó actuaciones completas de sus canciones en el canal de YouTube que dirige, MADforliveMUSIC.

Bad Bunny afirma que Garrone fue a su concierto del 21 de febrero en Salt Lake City, Utah y grabó múltiples videos de su actuación, que luego subió a su canal de YouTube.

Bad Bunny dice que el problema es que él posee los derechos de su música en vivo y Garrone no tenía autorización o consentimiento para grabar y publicar esos registros en línea para que la gente los vea de forma gratuita.

Bad Bunny dice que Garrone está utilizando el nombre del famoso cantante y su música para atraer la atención hacia su canal de YouTube, y por ende, quitándole visualizaciones e ingresos por publicidad a la propia página oficial de Bad Bunny en YouTube.

En los documentos, Bad Bunny dice que trató de emitir avisos de retirada estándar en virtud de la Ley de Derechos de Autor del Milenio Digital, también conocida como DMCA, donde le exigía a YouTube que eliminara los videos de Garrone.

Bad Bunny afirma que YouTube quitó los videos, pero Garrone presentó una contrademanda para conseguir que los vuelvan a subir, haciendo que el cantante no tuviera más remedio que presentar la demanda.

TMZ hizo algunas indagaciones y encontró el canal de YouTube al que se refiere Bad Bunny y da la impresión de que todos los videos de sus actuaciones en vivo fueron eliminados de la cuenta por ahora, a excepción de este video de la orquesta que abrió el concierto de Bunny esa noche en Salt Lake City.

Claramente, Garrone tenía una gran vista del show y algunos equipos de cámara de alta calidad y este clip de la orquesta tiene una duración de 9 minutos en YouTube.

Si Garrone estuvo grabando y subiendo videos similares durante el resto del concierto de Bad Bunny, como él afirma, parece muy distinto a subir un video de un concierto con el celular a las redes sociales como hacen millones de personas. De hecho, en TikTok hay un montón de clips más cortos de su concierto de esa noche, pero ninguno es tan largo.

Bad Bunny is mad at a fan whom he claims posted unauthorized concert footage on a YouTube account ... and now he's suing the dude.

According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Bad Bunny claims a man named Eric Guillermo Madronal Garrone posted full song performances on the YouTube channel he runs, MADforliveMUSIC.

Bad Bunny claims Garrone went to his Feb. 21 concert in Salt Lake City, Utah and recorded multiple videos of his live performance ... uploading the footage to Garrone's YouTube channel.

Problem is ... Bad Bunny says he owns the rights to the live performance music and Garrone did not have his authorization or consent to record and post them online for people to watch for free.

Bad Bunny says Garrone is using the famous singer’s name and music to draw eyeballs to the YouTube channel ... thus taking views and ad revenue away from Bad Bunny's own official YouTube page.

In the docs, Bad Bunny says he tried to issue standard takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act -- also known as DMCA -- demanding YouTube remove Garrone's videos.

Bad Bunny claims YouTube took down the videos but Garrone filed a counterclaim to get them back up … leaving BB no choice but to file the lawsuit.

TMZ did some digging and found the YouTube channel Bad Bunny has beef with ... and it seems all the videos of his song performances are deleted for now ... except for this video of the concert orchestra that opened for Bunny that night there in SLC.

Clearly, Garrone had a great view at the show and some high-quality camera equipment ... and this orchestra footage runs 9 minutes in the YouTube upload.

If Garrone was shooting/posting similar videos for the rest of Bad Bunny's concert -- as Bunny claims -- it seems a lot different than just uploading a cell phone video of the show to social media .... as millions of people do. In fact, lots of shorter clips of his concert from that evening are up on TikTok -- but none of them are all that lengthy.

Erik Huffman -- famous from 'Survivor' -- has been busted for domestic violence, with cops claiming he roughed up his costar-turned-wife, Jaime Dugan.

According to a police report, obtained by TMZ, cops responded to a disturbance call at a convenience store out in Spartanburg, SC way back in late January ... where they say they ran into Erik -- who told them he was trying to locate his spouse, Jaime.

The police say Erik relayed he was worried about Jaime after she'd taken off in their car following a spat over accusations of cheating -- namely, her accusing him of having an affair. In the report, the cops say Erik admitted they got into a grabbing match over his phone.

Cops say Jaime told them he just wanted to make sure she was safe and medically OK ... claiming she was saying she wanted to harm herself.

However, when cops finally caught up with Jaime sometime later ... they claim she was singing a different tune -- and telling a completely different story, one that alleged Erik was getting physical with her.

Police say Jamie blasted Erik for telling them she wanted to hurt herself -- and went on to say it was a blatant lie.

She proceeded to tell cops she had actually found his burner phone while they were in the car, but she alleges he twisted it out of her hand ... claiming he'd broken her middle fingernail and left her with a few small cuts on her hand as well.

Cops say she told them she drove off while he went into the store 'cause she didn't feel safe ... so quite the opposite of what Erik was saying.

Ultimately, cops determined Erik was the primary aggressor and they arrested him later that day on a third-degree domestic violence charge -- with him posing for this mug shot as he was being booked into the jail there.

An L.A. jury says Ricky Garcia, from the boy band Forever in Your Mind, was indeed sexually abused by his former manager back when the singer was a teenager ... TMZ has learned.

The jury returned the verdict Friday, finding Joby Harte liable for childhood sexual abuse, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury also hit Harte with an 7-figure judgment -- awarding Ricky $5.5 million in compensatory damages, and another $1 mil in punitive damages.

The verdict brings an end to a lengthy case for Ricky, who was 20 years old back in 2019 when he filed the lawsuit against Harte ... alleging he had groomed and assaulted him for several years, starting when Ricky was just 12.

Ricky joined Forever in Your Mind after auditioning for season 3 of "The X Factor" -- he impressed Simon Cowell enough to get an invitation to join the group. He was also a child actor, co-starring in more than 30 episodes of the Disney Channel show, "Best Friends Whenever."

But, in his lawsuit, Ricky said show biz took a dark turn for him when Harte took the band on trips he described as songwriting sessions. The singer says Harte got him drunk and he woke up naked on Harte's bed.

On other occasions, Ricky says Harte forced him to perform sex acts while he was under the age of 18. He said he was afraid he'd lose his career, so he remained silent for years ... until he and his mother confronted Harte, and then filed the lawsuit against him.