Judge Tosses Liza Hubby's Abuse Suit

[stu]

By Natalie Finn

Tue Sep 26, 3:12 PM ET

 

 

 

Start spreading the news, David Gest's lawsuit is

going away.

 

A New York judge has tossed out the $10 million suit the concert promoter filed against estranged wife Liza Minneli in 2003, saying there was "no triable issue of fact" in

the case.

 

 

Gest sued the Cabaret star a few months after the couple separated, claiming Minneli abused him during her alleged alcoholic rages, causing him headaches and other physical and emotional trauma that required him to be hospitalized. Minneli filed for divorce the next day.

 

 

State Supreme Court Judge Jane Solomon ruled that Gest's doctor had not been able to refute Minneli's medical expert, who said Gest's headaches were caused by a type of herpes virus. Gest's physician testified, however, that his patient had tested negative for the virus.

 

 

However, Gest implied two weeks ago that someone must have herpes, because he asked state Supreme Court Judge Harold Beeler, who's handling the divorce proceedings, to set aside his prenuptial agreement, saying he never would have entered into it if he had known Minneli both had the disease and was so darn temperamental. (Or, was "a violent alcoholic with herpes," as an unnamed source recently elaborated to the New York Post's Page Six.)

 

 

Lorraine Nadel, Gest's attorney, vowed she would appeal Judge Solomon's decision and told reporters her client was "shocked" and "stunned" by the ruling. Gest had alleged in his suit that, during their marriage, Minneli had thrown a lamp at him in a London hotel and then smacked him in the face with her fists when he tried to calm her down.

 

 

Now, according to Solomon, the only issue left to be decided in her courtroom is Minneli's $2 million countersuit against Gest, in which she maintains her hubby stole money from her. Gest, who is also known among Broadway types for his extensive collection of Judy Garland mementos, has denied Minneli's claim, saying he's owed money for all of the work he put in trying to re-jog her career.

 

 

The Post was the first to report the content of the couple's most recent court filings, in which Minneli accused Gest of trying to poison her; he said she had kept her condition a secret until after they had had "unprotected sexual relations."

 

 

"David was wrecked" when she finally told him, Gest's bodyguard Imad Handi, told the Post earlier this month. "It was the beginning of the end of the marriage. He couldn't trust her anymore" and it "turned him off" from having further marital relations.

 

 

And things had started off so promisingly, too, what with the star-studded nuptials in March 2002, featuring Michael Jackson as best man and all.

 

 

Gest is Minneli's fourth husband. They cohabitated for 16 months before all of the court filings hit the fan. Next up for the Liza with a Z performer, who took a funny turn as a recurring guest star on Arrested Development in 2004 and 2005, is a three-date concert appearance in Las Vegas