A 200-page deposition recently uncovered some hilariously, absurdly bad love sonnets that the 77-year-old wrote to Hicks, which the Star-Ledger has generously quoted for your enjoyment:

From the Star-Ledger:

“Good morning flower,” Bowser writes in one missive. “Hope your day brings new hope, new meaning to those things so close to our hearts. Folks at Planning Board said hello.”

Later, he muses, “Love is in the air. Breathe it in deeply for distribution throughout the body and soul. Enjoy the day. Be in by 10 or 10:15.”

Bowser, who compared Hicks to "a beautiful fish he hoped to hook" said “I thought I was being poetic."

“I was feeling romantic," he said.

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This time, despite claiming he wouldn't talk to me, he stayed on the phone for 20 minutes to discuss, alternately angrily and resignedly, the massive backlash among his liberal customer base to his decision to sue the Obama administration over contraceptive coverage.

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However, Clash still faces lawsuits from four other men, all claiming that Clash abused them as teenagers. The last accuser came forward only two weeks ago, and is represented by Jeff Herman, a Miami lawyer handling the cases against Clash. Earlier this month, Herman told the Baltimore Sun that "Each of these victims alleges that Kevin Clash was a father figure who groomed them with attention before engaging them in sexual contact."

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"The lawsuit was temporarily withdrawn to be amended and refiled at a later date," Michael Cohen, Trump Executive Vice President and Special Counsel, told TMZ.

Maher's orangutan comment and subsequent challenge had been a direct jab at Trump's October announcement, in which the real estate mogul challenged President Obama to release his college transcript in exchange for $5 million donation to a charity of his choosing. Maher then jokingly challenged Trump to prove he is not the offspring of an orangutan, which everyone took to be a joke, except human joke Donald Trump. When the Donald offered up record of his very human birth, Maher didn't pay up, and Trump sued, saying he “had an obligation to sue for charity.”

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David Hester, a participant in the first three seasons of “Storage Wars,” A&E’s popular show about people who buy storage units, filed a lawsuit against the network back in December alleging that the company “salts” storage units — fills them up with interesting and valuable things, like a newspaper from the time of Elvis’s death — as well as other untoward, totally familiar reality TV tricks, like filming scripted interviews, setting up phony footage, and denying via press release that any such behaviors are going down. Hester further alleged that his refusal to salt his own lockers has made him look less competent than his colleagues and forced him to close his storefronts, and then when he complained about some of these practices he was wrongfully terminated. (A&E has countered that Hester is trying “to convert a garden-variety breach of contract claim into a tabloid-worthy drama, in which Hester portrays himself as a crusading whistleblower.")

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The talks come after officials dismissed the film about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, calling it anti-Iran propaganda in February, and again taking issue with Michelle Obama's presentation of the best picture award to "Argo" at the Oscars ceremony. The lawsuit would allege that "Argo" gives an "unrealistic portrayal" of the country, but it's not clear yet specifically whom the lawsuit would target.

As of January, the Iranian government has been working on its own retelling of the crisis, called "The General Staff."  According to the Hollywood Reporter, the project is being liberally funded by the Art Bureau of the Iranian government.

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Hall, who does not watch the AMC show, became aware of the image when her granddaughter brought it to her attention. "I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. It took me back a lot of years," Hall told the New York Post. The photo was taken for Revlon by legendary photographer Richard Avedon.

Hall is now suing the producers over use of the image, who have not paid or asked for permission to use it -- although the suit doesn’t request a specific sum. Kevin Leichter, Hall’s attorney, said, “If this were 1960, Don Draper would’ve paid handsomely to use a photo of Gita."

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Jackson's physician, Conrad Murray, was found guilty of involuntary manslaugther for Jackson's overdose on propofol in 2011, but the lawsuit alleges that AEG Live pressured him into forcing Jackson to rehearse for the show despite evidence of exhaustion.

According to CNN, an e-mail exchange between AEG Live co-CEO Paul Gongaware and “This Is It” show director Kenny Ortega that surfaced this week implies that the two may have pressured Jackson's physician at the risk of losing his $150,000-a-month job. “We want to remind [Murray] that it is AEG, not MJ, who is paying his salary. We want to remind him what is expected of him," read one of the emails from Gongaware. Additional emails between AEG officials have also come forward, including an exchange between AEG Live president Randy Phillips and Ortega that observes, "It is like there are two people in there. One (deep inside) trying to hold on to what he was and still can be and not wanting us to quit him, the other in this weakened and troubled state. I believe we need professional guidance in this matter.”

"Now that the court has ruled that there is evidence that it was foreseeable that AEG's actions resulted in Michael Jackson's death, the Jackson family feels vindicated from the public smear campaign that AEG has waged against them," said the Jacksons' lawyer, Kevin Boyle. "The truth about what happened to Michael, which AEG has tried to keep hidden from the public since the day Michael died, is finally emerging. We look forward to the trial where the rest of the story will come to light."

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This interview with the New York Times’ Dealbook (sponsored today by the financial firm Allianz) is no different. As a prelude, he gets a commendation from former Attorney General and current corporate lawyer Michael Mukasey (always good to have the lawyer from the other side of the table, defending those you could have but chose not to prosecute, praising your work). He gets phantom criticism from unnamed members of “the Occupy Wall Street crowd” and “Rolling Stone magazine,” a reference to Matt Taibbi. There’s no easier way to marginalize critics than to refuse to name them.

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Yesterday, however, Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis of United States District Court in Manhattan ruled against the city, upholding the filmmakers' argument that "Central Park Five" was constructed as independent, investigative journalism. He argued that, “Indeed, it seems likely that a filmmaker would have a point of view going into a project,” but having an opinion does not have to be in conflict with independent reporting.

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The kerfuffle between Trump and Maher started shortly after Trump announced that he would give $5 million to charity if Obama provided his school records. Maher joked on "The Tonight Show" that Trump should prove that he wasn't the child of an orangutan. Trump, for some reason, did, and his lawyer sent Maher a copy of the birth certificate. “Attached hereto is a copy of Mr. Trump’s birth certificate, demonstrating that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan," his lawyer wrote.

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Maher made the bet on Jay Leno's show, very obviously mocking Donald Trump's non-announcement announcement in October, in which the birther promised to donate $5 million to a charity of Obama’s choice upon the release of the president's college transcripts. Maher mocked Trump and "the syphilitic monkey that runs his Twitter tweet," saying, "We did a new rule one week, that suppose that Donald Trump had been the spawn of on orangutan having sex with his mother." He clarified to Leno, "I'm not saying it's true -- I hope it's not true. But unless he comes up with proof, I'm willing to offer $5 million to Donald Trump that he can donate to a charity of his choice."

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As reported by the Columbia Spectator:

According to the complaint, Ungerleider became angry after Spanish professor Ruth Borgman gave him an unfairly low grade on a final project and called her a bitch in front of his class during the final exam. He emailed Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Hazel May to say he was sorry and explain that he was being unfairly graded, but she told him to see a psychologist, it says.

The complaint says that May directed Stephanie Nixon, then the director of residential programs, to visit Ungerleider’s Wien dorm room. She did so at 12:30 in the morning, accompanied by campus security officers, who unlocked the door. When Ungerleider resisted, Nixon called the New York Police Department, and three officers handcuffed Ungerleider and escorted him to the hospital... Malekshahi and other doctors medicated him against his will and kept him in containment, it says.

Ungerleider eventually requested a court date to challenge his hospitalization, but the appearance did not result in his release. Instead, he remained at St. Luke’s until doctors released him on Jan. 21, 2011, the complaint says.

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From the complaint:

"Though Carolla has repeatedly acknowledged the partnership agreement between himself (60%), Mr. Misraje (30%) and Mr. Ganz (10%)...he has since wrongfully 'kicked' Plaintiffs out of the business and seeks to exclude them from their share of the Partnership profits, all while he continues to reap the benefits of the business that Plaintiffs conceived of and developed."

Misraje and Ganz left their jobs in 2009 to help the comedian establish the "vision to build a 'multi-media podcasting network" based on Carolla's eponymous radio show. Although the partnership flourished--profits were up by 75 percent in 2010, and by March 2011, it was the most downloaded podcast in the world--Carolla fired the pair by September 2011.

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"I am a victim of my own stupidity, but I am not going to be a victim of a crime - extortion," Joe W. Rogers Jr. said in a written statement.

The woman told Atlanta police last month that Rogers demanded she perform sexual acts in exchange for keeping her job and that he also tried to force her to have sex with him despite her repeated protests. She said this occurred for nearly 10 years, from 2003 through June of this year. The Associated Press does not generally identify alleged victims of sexual assault.

Rogers identified the woman as his former housekeeper, and said she is not telling the truth.

"Over an almost eight-year period when I was separated, single and re-married, I had a series of infrequent consensual sexual encounters with my housekeeper," Rogers said.

He said the woman worked for 15 hours a week from 2003 until she was let go in 2008. He said she later was rehired as his house manager and quit her job in June.

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Hogan said in two lawsuits that he had consensual sex with his best friend's wife, Heather Clem, about six years ago in the Clemses' home, but he did not know he was being secretly recorded.

"Mr. Hogan had a reasonable expectation of his privacy, just as all Americans have a reasonable expectation of their privacy in their bedrooms," attorney Charles Harder said.

The video was posted on the online gossip site Gawker. Hogan is seeking $100 million in damages from the New York-based media company, which declined comment.

It's unclear who gave the video to Gawker.

In the suit against the Clemses, Hogan claimed the video caused "severe and irreparable injury which cannot be adequately compensated by monetary damages." Hogan is seeking the rights to the video in both lawsuits.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, wore a tight black T-shirt, black pants and dark sunglasses as he stood outside of the federal court in Tampa while his attorneys spoke to the news media. He did not comment.

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Beijing's No. 2 Intermediate Court rejected a second and final appeal of the $2.4 million fine levied against Ai's design company for alleged tax evasion. The company earlier submitted a financial guarantee of $1.3 million to officials in order to get a review of his case. That money will be automatically collected, Ai said, but he won't pay the difference.

"Our intention is that we are not going to pay," Ai said. He said he wasn't sure what will happen as a result and still had to discuss the plan with his lawyers.

The internationally known artist, who has long used his fame to highlight injustice, and his supporters have interpreted the penalty as official retaliation against his activism. The fine was levied last year, soon after he was released from detention in an overall crackdown on dissent.

Ai and his company, Fake Cultural Development Ltd., accused the tax bureau of violating laws in handling witnesses, gathering evidence and company accounts. The court rejected those claims, and the ruling cannot be appealed again.

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The civil lawsuits were filed by a total of nine plaintiffs. Two of them spoke at a news conference, saying the abuse they suffered as children still haunts them and they wanted to go public to help other victims.

Michael McDonnell held up a photo of himself as a sixth-grader at St. Titus School in suburban East Norriton, where he said he was abused by two priests for several years beginning in 1980.

"When I look at that picture I remember what happened ... I see a sad face in that photo," said McDonnell, who was joined by his wife and 6-year-old son. He said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, mental illness and drug addiction because of the abuse.

Andrew Druding said the abuse he suffered when he was 9 years old at the hands of a priest at St. Timothy School in northeast Philadelphia strained relationships with his family and friends and caused bad dreams and flashbacks that persist 40 years later.

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