5:28PM, Nov 04, 2008
Keanu Reeves has emerged unscathed from a court run-in with Paparazzo Alison Silva, whose attempts to sue the star failed miserably in a California court.
The photographer claimed he had been struck by Reeves' Porsche as he attempted to take the star's picture in March 2007.
The alleged injury to Silva's wrist led him to seek over $700k in damages. Silva claimed he could no longer take pictures, and had been forced to use video cameras for tabloid content instead.
It took over a 18 months for the case to finally come to court, and just an hour of jury deliberations to clear Reeves, who was in court on each of the four days of the hearing.
Reeves' lawyers forced Silva to admit he had moved to video camera work because of better pay, rather than physical pain, while a radiologist at the hospital in which Silva was treated said the injury appeared to be a lot older than Silva claimed.
This was later substantiated by a paramedic who heard Silva admit the injury was recieved while playing football in his native Brazil, years before.
The case was effectively over when the lawyers pulled out a tape showing Silva climbing over a chain-link fence in order to film Britney Spears.
Earlier, Reeves had testified himself, explaining that Silva had all but fallen over himself in his attempts to shoot Reeves, and placed his hand on the star's car bonnet in an effort to stop him driving off.
"He was in front of a starting car. It's common sense to me," explained Reeves.
The case was also notable for it's Hollywood-style Jury.
Before being whittled down to six men and six women, the prospective jury included a woman who was a mutual friend of Reeves and a man who claimed to be the voice of Bugs Bunny, which led to an impromptu impression, and a series of giggles in the LA courtroom.
Another claimed not to have visited a cinema in 30 years, explaining that a friend recently handed him a Reeves movie on DVD. "Frankly, i didn't understand it," the would-be juror said of what was thought to be The Matrix. Meanwhile, one of the jurors that did make the cut was said to be an animator on The Simpsons.
