Legal claim kicked out

Eugene, Ore. A jury has rejected claims that home-improvement celebrity Bob Vila repeatedly kicked a woman’s seat during a flight more than four years ago.

The woman, Carol Berger, said a possibly drunk Vila kicked the seat while she tried to sleep during a November 1997 United Airlines flight from Denver to Eugene. She sought as much as $250,000 in damages for injuries to her lower back and mental anguish.

Vila, star of the TV series “Home Again,” denied the accusation, saying he had no memories of Berger or a disagreement.

Asked whether he had kicked Berger’s seat, Vila said, “I have never kicked anybody. I have never struck anybody. I have never hit anybody in my life.”

Bobbitt to stay behind bars

Las Vegas A Family Court judge dismissed a temporary protection order banning John Wayne Bobbitt from seeing the wife he married two months ago.

Bobbitt, however, remained in the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas without bail pending resolution of a misdemeanor domestic battery charge.

The 35-year-old is due on June 4 in Churchill County District Court in Fallon, where a judge in 1999 sentenced him to five years’ probation after Bobbitt pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny.

He could face three years in prison for violating his probation, in addition to any sentence from the domestic violence charge, said David Sonner, state Department of Parole and Probation district administrator in Las Vegas.

Bobbitt was arrested May 13 after his wife, Joanna, called police and said she had been assaulted. The couple married March 23 in Las Vegas.

No. 17 becomes No. 1

Los Angeles Director Sam Raimi was hoping to weave his web around the “Spider-Man” movie, but didn’t think he’d get the chance.

“I said to my agent, ‘Is there any way I can get on the list to direct this thing?”‘ Raimi told reporters. “And he said, ‘Fat chance. There’s 16 guys they want before you, they’ve told me.’

“I said, ‘OK, put me down for No. 17, I’m on the list.”‘

“Spider-Man” made a record-breaking $114.8 million its first weekend in theaters, and has grossed over $285 million in its first three weeks.

Moore is the most in Gotham

New York Julianne Moore will receive the actor award at the 2002 Gotham Awards, given out by the Independent Feature Project, on Sept. 26.

The award honors a New York actor who has made significant contributions to the city’s film community.

Past recipients include Uma Thurman, Frances McDormand, Kevin Kline, Christopher Walken, Sigourney Weaver, Harvey Keitel, Susan Sarandon and John Turturro.

Moore’s films include “Boogie Nights,” “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “Hannibal,” “World Traveler” and “The Shipping News.”