The legal action was reported by the entertainment news show “Extra.” It also names the medical staff of Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center.

The family alleged the hospital and medical staff were negligent and careless in their examination, diagnosis and treatment of Ritter’s symptoms. The suit requests unspecified damages.

The hospital said in a prepared statement that it had not yet seen the suit and could not comment. The hospital also said it would not release information about Ritter because of patient privacy.

Ritter came to prominence in 1977 as Jack Tripper on the hit sitcom “Three’s Company.” He made a successful return to sitcoms in 2002 with “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.”

“That’s looking very, very good and that will happen after my tour. As of right now, I’m (in) the No. 1 slot for Daisy, so hopefully nothing changes,” she said Wednesday.

If Simpson does get the part, it could be a consolation. This month, ABC passed on her comedy pilot, in which she played a not-too-bright starlet named Jessica Sampson who joins a television news program.

The 23-year-old — whose fame has skyrocketed with the success of the MTV reality series “Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica” — said ABC wanted to recast the show, something she wasn’t willing to do.

“I connected with my cast, and I loved how it turned out, and I think that it could have been successful the way it was,” she said.

In the end, she says it worked out for the best, because with her upcoming tour and movie plans, she didn’t have time for a series. And she’ll still do variety specials with her husband, Nick Lachey; the couple’s variety special in April pulled in strong ratings for ABC.

“Everything works out for a reason and I’m glad there was a compromise,” she said.

He added, “It isn’t fatalism, but the knowledge of having our guard up. If they organized this, they will not pull it off.”

Berlusconi gave no further details in the interview about who the intended hijackers were, where the information came from and how the attack was thwarted.

Security has been tightened around the Vatican in recent weeks amid reports that churches could become terrorist targets. During Christmas celebrations, Italian police guarded the perimeter of the vast St. Peter’s Square and pilgrims entering the basilica passed through metal detectors.

The Vatican refused Saturday to respond to questions about a possible Christmas threat.

Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement, “As in every case of suspected or valid information regarding security themes, I have no comment to make.”

Berlusconi’s office issued its own statement Saturday, saying the premier’s remarks did not amount to official declarations.

“Premier Silvio Berlusconi gave no interview. One cannot confuse a quick exchange of Christmas greetings with political declarations,” it said.

The premier also was quoted by Libero as saying he received information in November of another planned attack, on the subways of Milan and Rome.

“There were those who insisted that the stations be closed,” Berlusconi is quoted as saying. “I took on myself the responsibility for avoiding certain measures. They would had the same effect on the minds of people as an attack, they would have killed us inside, with dramatic social and economic consequences.

“Terrorism wants to make us close up. I preferred to double up the safety checks.”

“Why do they makes mistakes like these if they have the technology?” asked Abdel-Hadi Adai, who said he lost his 27-year-old brother-in-law Najah Abdel-Rida in the blast. “There are no military installations anywhere near here.”

Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said 58 people were killed, and said the number was likely to rise because many others were wounded. There were conflicting reports, however, on the number of casualties.

Haqi Ismail Razouq, director of al-Nour Hospital, where the dead and injured were taken, put the death toll at 30 and the number of injured at 47; surgeon Issa Ali Ilwan said 47 were killed and 50 injured. Witnesses said they counted as many as 50 bodies.

There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.

“These are cowardly air raids,” Sahhaf told Lebanon’s Al-Hayat LBC satellite television, saying civilians were being targeted because Iraqi troops had defeated coalition forces in battles.

“Most injuries were caused by shrapnel,” said Dr. Ahmed Sufian. “Blood was everywhere when the casualties began to arrive. “The women and children were screaming. We were overwhelmed. What will they hit next? This hospital?”

The Al-Nasr market is in the working-class district of al-Shoala. Witnesses said the bombing took place when the market was at its busiest, around 6 p.m. They said they saw an aircraft flying high overhead just before the blast.

The explosion left a crater the size of a coffee table on a sidewalk in front of a row of food and other shops. Curiously, nothing was blackened in the immediate surrounding area.

Water was seeping from ruptured pipes and corrugated iron was dangling from the roofs of the damaged shops.

A red Volkswagen was parked only a few yards from the crater, peppered with what could have been flying shrapnel.

At the hospital, relatives of the dead and wounded wept hysterically and yelled the names of their loved ones. Many searched for relatives or friends.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Ali Kheidir Saleh, 23, said he was in a house near the market when the blast brought down part of the house.

Another of the injured, 52-year-old construction contractor Salman Zaki Kazim, was struck by shrapnel in his hip. He was shopping for a TV antenna, accompanied by his granddaughter and son-in-law, at the time of the bombing. Neither was hurt.

At the scene of the bombing, women in black chadors were sobbing outside homes where some of the victims lived. Men cried and hugged each other and participants in a funeral procession shouted the Muslim creed, “There is no God but God,” as they walked through the market.

Down the road, residents gathered at a Shiite Muslim mosque, crowded around seven wooden coffins draped in blankets. Some of the men stood silently. Others sobbed into trembling hands. In the background, women cried, “Oh God! Oh God!”

Another witness, Omar Ismail, a 35-year-old engineer who witnessed the explosion, said body parts were strewn across the street.

“Why do they hate the Iraqi people so much?” he asked.

Iraqi state television, meanwhile, said three Iraqis had been arrested for spying for the United States, alleging they were assigned to inspect areas of Baghdad that had been attacked to determine if they needed to be hit again.

The report identified the men as Ibrahim Abdel Qader, Ghareeb Ahmed Hamadeh and Hussein Shahed. Qader was quoted as saying he was given about two pounds of TNT from “foreigners — Americans,” and Shahed said he was recruited by an American he identified as “Gen. Mike” who was from the CIA.

Explosions in the capital late Thursday night and early Friday were aimed at disrupting communications between Saddam Hussein’s leadership and his military, U.S. officials said. Airstrikes also targeted positions of the Republican Guard — Saddam’s best-trained, best-equipped fighters — in a ring outside the city.

Sahhaf said the overnight airstrikes had killed seven people in Baghdad and wounded 92. The Arab television network Al-Jazeera reported eight people were killed at Baath party headquarters in bombing Friday afternoon.

The airstrikes hit at or near the Information and Planning ministries and at telephone installations — “as if government buildings are empty of human beings and there are no civilians in them,” Sahhaf said.

The attack gutted a seven-story telephone exchange building in an area called Al-Alwya.

Felix Rodriguez, director of production at Petroleos de Venezuela SA, filed the motion Tuesday, arguing that the work stoppage — which has drastically cut oil exports from the world’s fifth-largest oil producer — threatened national security.

There was no immediate reaction from dissident executives at the oil company, which employs 40,000 people.

A general strike by organized labor and business to oust President Hugo Chavez has stopped oil exports from Venezuela, a key supplier to the United States, and sent global prices above $30 a barrel.

Oil production was down to 370,000 barrels per day — compared to 3 million barrels before the strike. Some oil executives fired by Chavez claim production is just 200,000 barrels per day.

Venezuelan and foreign tankers are idle, refineries are closed or operating at minimum levels and crews and dock workers are refusing to handle oil and non-oil cargos.

The government is still trying to unload the tanker Pilin Leon — named after a former Miss World — which anchored off the western city of Maracaibo in protest. The ship carries 280,000 barrels of gasoline, roughly a day’s supply for the nation.