|
Liz Taylor in bizarre case
31/07/2003 10:21 - (SA)
Los Angeles - US screen legend Elizabeth Taylor has been sued by a former gardener who claims the star fired him because he rejected the sexual advances of her butler, court documents showed on Wednesday.
Gardener designer Willem Van Muyden filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on Monday alleging breach of contract, sexual harassment, discrimination and wrongful dismissal on the part of the actress and her butler.
He is seeking unspecified damages from the 71-year-old star for allegedly being fired without being paid $294 000 that he claims Taylor owes him for 10 years of gardening work at her Los Angeles mansion.
Van Muyden alleges he was sacked in September 2002 because he spurned the advances of butler Jean-Luc Lacquement, who is also named as a defendant in the suit.
Grabbed his crotch
The gardener claims the butler grabbed his crotch and told him he loved him during an encounter in the kitchen of the actress' home last summer.
"Van Muyden ... believes and alleges that Taylor, at the request and/or suggestion of Jean-Luc, intentionally fired (Van Muyden) in retaliation (for his) rejection of the sexual assault," the suit states.
The actress and Aids activist, who became an international star in 1946 at the age of 14, denies the allegations and plans to fight them in court, her lawyer said.
Attorney Thomas Hoberman dismissed the suit as "a work of complete fiction" and said he planned a vigorous defence.
The landscaper's lawyer Mark Leonardo however said his client unsuccessfully tried to resolve the issue with Taylor's attorneys before filing the suit.
Taylor, who has not made a feature film since 1994, announced earlier this year that she had withdrawn from acting altogether to channel her energy into the battle against HIV and Aids.
- AFP
|
South Africa
