After Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell was hit with a lawsuit by Clifford Streit—an estranged friend who claimed to have not been paid in full for the HBO deal while acting as her manager—her reaction was the legal equivalent of a Carrie Bradshaw–style tantrum: She called him an “opportunist” who “came out of the woodwork” and filed to have the case dismissed. But on March 23, Judge Victor Marrero ruled that “there is no silver bullet (or flyswatter) readily available to a judge to quickly dispatch . . . pesky claimants.” So they’re going to court.

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Joe Hagan
• Table of Contents: April 17, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!