Hitchcock star wins $1.5 million for San Diego accident

Actress Tippi Hedren, whose most famous role was in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds in 1963, has won a $1.5 million case over a gallon of water that hit her on the head at San Diego's Stu Segall Productions studio in 2006. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Hedren, 83, had taken a role of a grandmother dying of cancer in a soap opera named Fashion House, which didn't last long.

She had suffered headaches for many years, but in 2006 had undergone spinal fusion surgery, which gave her relief. But the water falling on her head during rehearsal ended that. She tried acupuncture and all manner of cures but the headaches persisted. She hired an attorney, Joseph D. Allen of Santa Barbara, to sue the owner and lessee of the soundstage, but he made a mistake and dismissed the suit.

Hedren sued the attorney for malpractice. A San Diego Superior Court jury awarded her almost $1.5 million. The attorney appealed, and the appellate court yesterday, December 16, upheld the lower court's decision.

Oh, yes — according to the Reporter, the deluge was probably caused by a bird's nest that had blocked an air-conditioniing condensation tube.