Other than a prolonged fascination with horses and pappy-signs-my-paycheck neuroses, we've always thought that Georgina and Emma Bloomberg were fairly well-adjusted. But we're starting to wonder how many sessions they've burned up with their therapists on Daddy Bloombucks' lady-hating ways. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced yesterday it will sue Bloomberg, L.P., the mayor's giant media and finance company, for demoting and cutting the pay of women at the company who took federally-protected maternity leave. Bloomberg distinguished himself yesterday (with some serious irritation!) from his eponymous company, telling reporters, "You'll have to talk to Bloomberg L.P. I haven't worked there, as you know, in an awful long time." But an overlooked 2001 story in the Village Voice contains pretty amazing excerpts from Bloomberg's 1998 deposition in a sexual harassment lawsuit; it was alleged that one of his executives had raped an employee.

Cranky former CBS anchor Dan Rather declined to answer today when asked whether he planned to depose President Bush in the incredibly unlikely event that his $70 million lawsuit goes to trial. The demurral came at a Q&A session in Washington, at the restaurant of his former CBS colleague, Carol Joynt. "From the look in his eye—and he gave me a definite Ratheresque look—I got the impression he will call the president as a witness," Joynt later told the Washington Examiner. "Possibly both of them: 41 and 43."

Yahoo has agreed to pay $4 million to settle the almost two-year-old class action lawsuit, Anthony v. Yahoo, in which Robert Anthony alleged Yahoo did not fulfill his needs — or rather, its obligations to paid subscribers. He claimed that the Web giant's personal-ad listings were polluted with non-personal listings and defunct profiles. Yahoo, while continues to contest the charges, is accepting the settlement so that it, and Mr. Anthony, can get on with their lives, such as they are.

Remember Jonathan Lee Riches, the guy suing Michael Vick for $63,000,000,000 billion? He's got an even better lawsuit! This one's against Barry Bonds, baseball commissioner Bud Selig, and "Hank Aaron's bat." But there's more!

As part of its defense of Viacom's billion dollar lawsuit against it, YouTube wants Viacom employees Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to testify. Also "that guy who says 'git 'er done' all the time, what's his name? He's so funny!" [CNet]

Libertarian group sues Google over massive tax breaks used to attract a datacenter to rural North Carolina. [News.com]

"The owners of a rival social networking Web site are trying to shut down Facebook.com, charging in a lawsuit that Facebook's founder stole their ideas while they were students at Harvard." We are so hoping these guys will succeed so that everyone will STOP POKING US. Seriously, people, enough with the poking. It's unbecoming. [A.P.]

DJ Samantha Ronson was accused of planting drugs in Lindsay Lohan's car, thereby setting her up for a sting by the paparazzi. (Please, like she would do her girl Lindsay like that!) Ronson's pissed, and suing paparazzi agency Sunset Photo, photo agency owner Jill Ishkanian (whose agency is currently under investigation by the FBI for hacking into US Weekly's computer system), and our highly trafficked friend Perez Hilton. Here's the info; more details as they come in.

Turns out there's some interesting Rupert Murdoch news after all! A source tells Rush & Molloy that vagina dentata ne plus ultra Judith Regan has "secret tapes of phone calls and meetings that provide explosive evidence in her $20 million lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation," and that the recordings "may prove damning to more than a few Fox executives." Well of course! Meanwhile, books she signed up before her ouster are still climbing the bestseller lists.

The New York Times's Pete Wells reports today that Rebecca Charles, the owner of Pearl Oyster Bar and progenitor of the current Lobster Roll mania that has swept New York City like a bagizillion plankton, is suing Ed McFarland of Ed's Lobster Bar for totally ganking her lobster roll style.

Manhattan banker Jeffrey Lemerond is suing Twentieth Century Fox over the "public ridicule, degradation, and humiliation" he supposedly incurred while being chased down the street by Borat. [TSG]

Today's LAT story chronicling how a lawsuit over the Mike White film Year of the Dog filed by onetime pal Laura Kightlinger has irreversibly damaged their relationship is just the latest reminder that the soul-devouring entertainment industry eventually gobbles up even the strongest of Hollywood friendships, sparing not even the bonds between formerly struggling, Jack Black-adjacent writer/performers who self-identify as borderline obsessive animal lovers. At issue: Kightlinger claims that the crazy-cat-lady script she once gave to White was appropriated for his recently released crazy-dog-lady movie, an accusation that's led to a breach of implied contract suit, waking nightmares, and nasty recriminations in the pages of their hometown paper. Report the Times:

The makers of Boost Plus Nutritional Energy Drink are surely offering up audible thanks to the Lord this morning, as the Post reports that a Harlem man is suing them because the protein shake gave him " an erection that would not subside." (After they pay up, they'll market the hell out of their boner-improving juice!) Christopher Woods of Harlem was victimized by the permadong, but he wasn't the only one to suffer:

All too often in Hollywood, the price of success is finding oneself named on a lawsuit by an aggrieved individual who feels that his or her own hard work on a story about, say, the dehumanizing effects of suburban Christmas-lighting competitions or about the so-deep-undercover-we-don't-know-which-way-is-up adventures of whitefaced African-American FBI agents has been unfairly appropriated by a studio hellbent on enriching themselves with ill-gotten material. According to a CBC report, Knocked Up's Judd Apatow could soon find himself sued by a Canadian journalist who feels that her personal tale of an unplanned pregnancy (detailed in the book Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-be—a match!) was too closely mimicked by Seth Rogen's wacky, yet human-condition-illuminating, insemination of Katherine Heigl:

"Lies & Smears Aimed At Post," blares the headline in today's Page Six. The item lists a whole bunch of allegations against Page Six by a former employee, Ian Spiegelman, that he'd made in an affidavit to fellow former Postie Jared Paul Stern's lawyer. Things like Post honcho Col Allan was "said to have received sexual favors" from strippers at Scores, and that Nello Balan (the restaurant and club owner) had given Page Six's Richard Johnson a $3,000 bribe in 1997.

And so it begins:

Former Simon & Schuster CEO Richard Snyder is suing Warner Music honcho for $100 million because of a deal he says they had—evidence of which is maybe contained in the computer that he claims Bronfman's henchmen broke all on purpose. Yesterday we posted a portion of the suit entitled "Bronfman Jr.'s Illusory Record of Success," which basically goes on at length about how Bronfman has never achieved anything without help from his rich family, never went to college, and "set in motion the demolition of Seagram, by moving its assets into the mercurial world of entertainment, his personal passion." But one of the documents included with the complaint seems to indicate otherwise.

Edgar Bronfman Jr. is the CEO of Warner Music—remember, the man who took away our Napster back in the day? He's also, according to the millionaire who's suing him, a lying, cheating criminal! Richard Snyder, the former CEO of Simon & Schuster, says he was hired by Bronfman in early 2002 in order to advise him about the formation of Warner Music Group, but that he later "abruptly severed his relationship" with Snyder" and then BROKE HIS 'PUTER. Ahem, more specifically, he "caused his agents (including full-time employees of Warner Music) to wrongfully tamper with Snyder's computer, rendering it incapable of retrieving e-mails, business records, and other materials relevant to the claims." That's from the lawsuit which we were sent today, along with a very vivid press release, by a publicist who Snyder has apparently retained. We eagerly await the arrival of a press release about Bronfman's countersuit! Maybe it will come with some sort of goodie bag. Our favorite part of the suit is after the jump. It's entitled "Bronfman Jr.'s Illusory Record of Success," which is kind of a good name for a novel, which is what it resembles!

Oooh, we got an email from Tim S. Perkin today, of Underwood, Perkins & Ralston out in Dallas—he represents former Times and current Portfolio reporter Kurt Eichenwald, who was accused (by others!) of being in a funny place for loaning money to a kiddie-porn story source. It was all: "Please forward me the name of Gawker's legal counsel as soon as possible," that kind of thing. Well gladly! We were beginning to think Kurt Eichenwald's plans to sue various people, or at least reporter Debbie Nathan, as he so vehemently expressed in a letter to Romenesko a month or so ago, had just evaporated. Anyway we called Tim to ask what was up, but he was in some sort of legal meeting or something. Fine! We're going to Balthazar for coffee, so try us later!

(Very) previously: Eichenwald Defamation Suit: It Is On

Jason Neroni may be many things: A mercurial firebrand, a talented chef done in by hubris, an alchemist capable of combining pork and margarita into a pork margarita. The aftermath of his very ugly divorce from Brooklyn's Porchetta has resulted in his former employer claiming that he's a thief and wanted by the police—and today Neroni told us that he'll be fighting fire with legal fire. How could a deal so sweet—Porchetta under Neroni had in general received positive reviews—go so sour? And why do we feel like we're 13 again, cowering our bedrooms while Mom and Dad blast NPR to drown out the fighting?