WU-TANG CLAN SUED BY DEFENSE ATTORNEY

Lawyer Ed McPherson filed a $35,000 breach of contract and fraud lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court last week against members of the Wu-Tang Clan over legal fees associated with a lawsuit in which he defended the group in 1998.

"Essentially what they owe me is $35,000, but we have a fraud cause of action for punitive damages," said McPherson, of the law firm McPherson & Kalmansohn, who represented the rap group in a $500,000 suit filed in October 1998 by a woman who alleged the group assaulted, abused and defamed her during a video shoot a year earlier.

Although the initial retainer fee was paid, McPherson alleges the group skipped out on the remainder of his attorney's fees, despite McPherson's help in defending the suit down from $500,000 to a $15,000 settlement.