SANTA ANA, California -- Slapstick comedian Gallagher, known for smashing everything from watermelons to gelatin in his shows, was cleared Friday in a personal injury lawsuit alleging he hit an audience member with a penguin prop.
The Santa Ana Superior Court jury voted that Gallagher did not commit battery during a 1990 San Juan Capistrano show when he dropped a water- spraying fire extinguisher made up like a penguin and it hit Robin Vann.
'He once again proclaimed the penguin is innocent,' said Mary Childs, his attorney, when she informed him of the verdict.
Gallagher, whose real name is Leo Gallagher Jr., gave often comical testimony earlier in the week, leaving some jurors laughing until they were red in the face and the plaintiff's attorney threatening to seek a mistrial. He was home Friday with a headache when the jury came back.
The panel voted 9-3 that Gallagher's action -- accidentally dropping the fuzzy, padded extinguisher from the stage -- was negligent, but it found Vann suffered no actual damage. Vann was directed to pay court costs.
Gallagher's routines often leave his audiences wet and sticky, hitting them with chunks of watermelon or other edibles pummeled by his 'Sledge-O-Matic' or yards of aerosol-sprayed silly string and mounds of whipped cream.
Vann's suit claimed the 47-year-old, shaggy-haired comic heaved the fire extinguisher into the audience, striking her and causing her recurring headaches and other problems. She sought $33,000 in actual damages and unspecified punitive damages.
Childs said jurors declined to speak with her after the trial, but she assumed they were swayed by Gallagher's testimony and found it credible.
As for her client's sloppy, gooey stage style, she said he made no changes in his act since the lawsuit was filed and has no plans to change it in the future.
