Dean Martin brought a $90,000 lawsuit against Seddon.

Hey pallies, I loves to read Dinohistory....here's what was happenin' in our Dino's life 50 Dinoyears ago. Dino and company were returnin' from partyin' at Peter Lawfords when this happens... If you wanna read this in it's original format, just click on the tagg of this Dinopost. Thanks to the Los Angeles Times Blogs and Larry Harnisch of the Daily Mirror for this Dinoretro. Dinodevotedly, DMP


Donald Robert Seddon of 824 17th St., Santa Monica, was apparently a rather jealous individual. While cruising the streets of Los Angeles one night, he thought he saw his wife riding in a car with another man. At Warner Drive and Wilshire, he rammed his car into the other vehicle, then spun into a third car.

Seddon, in fact, rammed the car of total strangers, David R. North and his wife, Patricia, both 22, of 1541 S. St. Andrews Place.

As it turned out, the third car was carrying some prominent people: Tony Curtis and his wife, Janet Leigh; Dean Martin and his wife, Jean; and songwriter Sammy Cahn and his wife, Gloria Delson. They were headed home after a party at Peter Lawford's house. Fortunately, Frank Sinatra was right behind them and contacted police with the radiotelephone in his car.

No one was seriously injured in the accident, The Times said, but Dean Martin brought a $90,000 lawsuit against Seddon.

The Times never reported on the outcome of the lawsuit and Seddon's name never again appears in the paper. Because Janet Leigh was pregnant at the time of the accident, she was taken to UCLA for an exam to make sure neither she nor the baby was injured. In November, she gave birth to Jamie Lee Curtis.


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