Leonardo DiCaprio was the hero in “Titanic,” but not in real life, according to a judge.
A Manhattan appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision that a $45-million lawsuit could proceed against the 26-year-old actor stemming from an alleged street fight over actress Elizabeth Berkley. Screen writer Roger Wilson, 41, alleges that DiCaprio encouraged friends to attack Wilson outside the Asia de Cuba restaurant on March 4, 1998, according to the Associated Press.
Wilson apparently confronted the actor and his friends about advances, he claims, DiCaprio made toward Berkley. Wilson claims the “Titanic” star told his friends to attack him. The ruling upheld the lower court’s decision that dismissed an assault charge, but sustained an aiding and abetting an assault and battery charge. The appeals court wrote that DiCaprio shouted incitement, which raised enough questions for a trial.
