A Hollywood tribal feud no less contentious than writers vs. producers is the one brewing for well over a century now between celebrities and paparazzi, the first documented incident of which involved Mary Pickford launching a half-eaten pomegranate at the head of a Movieland Tattler illustrator caught sketching the actress's unflattering likeness in her garden. The war rages on, as Keanu Reeves finds himself the defendant in a lawsuit filed by a paparazzo claiming the actor struck her with his Porsche last March:

The lawsuit said Reeves struck Alison Silva on March 19 and alleges that Silva suffered shock and serious injuries. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages.

According to reports at the time of the accident, Reeves was leaving a parking space in a residential area near Los Verdes County Golf Course, about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. [...]

An attorney for Reeves said then that Silva was blocking Reeves' way and that if there was a collision, it was not hard enough to injure the photographer.

The coupe-hobbled photographer's lawyers might argue that in her attempt to score a money-shot of the star emerging from a Los Verdes parking spot--an image that could score upwards of tens of dollars on the open tabloid market!--that the responsibility really fell to Reeves to ensure the safety of everything around him. Checking behind every tire for any supine photographers before pulling away, after all, is as standard a celebrity safety procedure as buckling one's seatbelt, or double-checking one's hotness in the rear-view mirror.

• Photographer: Keanu Reeves hit me with Porsche [AP]

Tags: celeb jurisprudence | keanu reeves | paparazzi