Who leaked Suzy Shuster’s scathing e-mail to Alycia Lane about the bikini photos? Not Suzy Shuster, according to her husband, NFL Network talking head Rich Eisen.

The Associated Press found this out recently from a story it ran on January 30th about Lane’s pending lawsuit against CBS 3. The AP ran this correction last night: “In a Jan. 30 story about fired TV news anchor Alycia Lane, the Associated Press erroneously reported that the wife of NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen tipped tabloid gossip columnists to the existence of bikini photos sent to her husband by Lane.”

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According to one local legal insider, Alycia Lane’s impending Paul Rosen-honchoed lawsuit might allege not only wrongful termination, but also defamation, simply based on the fact that CBS 3 followed through with not-so-quietly booting her out the door.

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While Hollywood players hustle to fill holes in their production schedules thanks to a possibly lengthy Writers Guild of America strike, this may be the perfect time to dust off that crappy screenplay you started working on in college or to formulate that brilliant new reality show about bisexual dwarfs: Agents, producers and other surly big shots that have hung up on you in the past just might be willing to listen to what you have to say.

“On the film side, [the strike’s] clearly an open door for the local independent project,” says Justin Wineburgh, Cozen O’Connor’s entertainment lawyer wonderboy. “Most of those writers aren’t part of the guild, and pretty soon the distributors are going to be dying for content. It’s a great opportunity for them — they don’t have to worry about being blackballed.”

Budding Mark Burnetts should also start formulating their ideas. Wineburgh points to Philadelphia’s active reality-show production run-up, singling out four deals secured by Old City production facility Shooters Post and Transfer in just the last month.

“There’s no question that reality-based content is picking up because it’s outside the scope of the strike,” he says.

Just think that you can finally put that useless communications degree to good use.

Under orders, writers turn over scripts [Reuters]

According to updated reports, state Sen. Vince Fumo was the one who pulled the plug on Sprague & Sprague representing him in his hefty indictment case, rather than the other way around. As a result, on Friday Judge William Yohn will most likely give Fumo a short timetable for finding another powerhouse defense attorney.

Problem is, according to Fumo spokesman Gary Tuma, that’s not going to be easy: “A lot of the good attorneys are already involved in cases,” he tells the Daily Examiner.

Parroting what he told the Inquirer, Tuma says Fumo ditched his buddy Sprague with reluctance — especially considering that it was just three weeks ago he lobbied so hard to have Sprague on board. Tuma says there are still a lot of questions about how the process of finding an attorney will be handled, such as whether Fumo’s independent attorney, Glenn Zeitz, will play a part in the selection.

After asked what sort of attorney Fumo is looking for at this point, Tuma was blunt: “I don’t know.”

Sprague Will Not Defend Fumo [Philly.com]

PHOTO: Philadelphia Daily News

The merciless but super-effective attorneys at Sprague and Sprague who have been crafting state Sen. Vince Fumo’s defense against federal fraud charges have petitioned the court to be allowed to withdraw from representing the embattled politician. This is a complete turnaround from three weeks ago, when Richard A. Sprague and his firm were fighting to be on the case after members of the prosecution argued that a conflict of interest should ban Sprague from representing Fumo.

Fumo’s been indicted on a whopping 139 counts of fraud and obstruction of justice, which allege, among other things, that he used public money to furnish some of his city and shore homes. Fumo says this whole mess is courtesy of GOP gorillas partaking in a political ambush.

Today’s developments may be an indication of a fallout in the personal relationship between the two raging egos — or that Fumo’s case is really a lost cause. There’s been no official comment from Sprague or Fumo so far, but the official motion from Sprague’s firm states “There exists good cause for seeking to withdraw.”

To be continued …

Sprague seeks to withdraw from Fumo fraud case [Philly.com]
Fumo’s Super Lawyer Hitting the Road [Young Philly Politics]
Sprague Seeks to Withdraw from Fumo Case [McCall.com]

PHOTO: Daily News

Last night ESPN did a segment on recently injured Portland Trailblazers center Greg Oden, summoning the completely underutilized Stephen A. Smith via satellite to comment from Orlando.

What the ALL CAPS is he doing in Florida? Smith hasn’t had a column in the Inquirer since August 17th, and nothing has been mentioned about his status with the paper since the Inky’s smarmy August 22nd announcement that he was being “reassigned” (a.k.a. demoted) to roving reporter.

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According to the Legal Intelligencer, a 2005 sexual discrimination suit, filed by a Pottsgrove woman who had a 10-month affair with her band camp instructor when she was 17 years old, can still stand. This sets a bad legal precedent for school districts with hands-y band camp counselors.
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