Entertainment Dish

You might remember that horrific car accident involving Nick Hogan back in 2007 – I still get goosebumps when I see the photos. The accident caused his friend, John Graziano, “to lose a portion of his brain, to be confined to a wheelchair and to be in a minimally conscious state requiring full time care,”. Nick served 5 months in jail for the incident and the Graziano family filed a civil suit against the Hogan (real name Bollea) family shortly after he was released.

After nine hours of talks and negotiations, the families have come to a settlement and will avoid a trial. Even though the terms are being kept confidential, the Graziano family attorney shared this:

“We reached a settlement that was agreeable to all parties,” the victim’s family attorney, Kim Kohn, tells E! News. “We are very happy because our goal all along was to ensure that John was provided with the appropriate care for the rest of his life. And the settlement will do thatThe mom is very relieved and that makes us very happy. The court approved it this morning.”

Hulk Hogan (aka Terry Bollea) was present during the long hearing:

“It was very positive that Terry came,” Kohn says. “He wanted to try to be there for John.”

It’s said that Linda Hogan settled her part with the family last month. John is somewhat improved and was released from the hospital in September.

Can you imagine? John was in the hospital for TWO years – those bills have got to be astronomical. And that doesn’t even cover the at-home-care costs. I’m sure the family is grateful to the Hogan family for settling and getting this mess taken care of so they can all move forward.

Photos by WENN

[HMG] – With a relatively strong performance both in and by his more recent films, Ben Affleck is now in line to act in and direct a retelling of one of the biggest scandals the New York Yankees has ever endured. And Matt Damon is looking to get on board too.

Back in 1973, Yankees team-mates Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich stunned the team’s vast army of fans when they calmly disclosed during Spring Training they were sharing their wives. This new movie, ‘The Trade’ will retell that story.

Both Ben and fellow Oscar winner, Matt are die-hard Red Sox fans and thus hate the Yankees, but they’ve been drawn to this project for ages. Ben now wants to direct and maybe play Fritz, while Matt would be Kekich.

And apart from the lure of the dug-out the appeal for both stars is the screenwriter Dave Mandel. Best known for his scalpel-sharp writing on ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ Dave has been waiting to start writing for years, but getting the rights to the story was tricky so he’s only just finished a draft. Ben and Matt read it…and were hooked.

Ben’s good friend from 1993’s ‘Dazed and Confused.’ Richard Linklater was keen to direct, but Deadline says Ben now wants to drive the movie and act. His first time as Director – ‘Gone Baby Gone,’ was liked by the critics and his second, ‘The Town’ [which he co-wrote and directed] was also a modest success. So this might actually work.

And consider this – the last time Ben and Matt got involved in writing and acting together the result was 1997’s ‘Good Will Hunting.’ And that won two Oscars and sixteen other awards.

Could they do that again with this movie? Let’s hear your views? Especially you Yankees fans….

[HMG] – Following our earlier story about how American Idol star, Carrie Underwood got engaged to Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators ice hockey team, it seems Gossip Girl star, Hilary Duff has strapped on some skates and found love herself.

The 22-year old actress has just announced her engagement to Edmonton Oilers Center, Mike Comrie. The couple had been dating for almost two years, but Mike finally borrowed the nerve and proposed while they were vacationing in Maui last week.

Her mom, Susan [who's also her agent] tried to deny E’s reports, but that ploy soon sank when photos emerged of 29-year old Mike actually down on one knee with a ring.

There’s no date for a wedding yet, and don’t hold your breath The new couple denied they were even seriously dating for a year-and-a-half, so confessing to a Church date could be a long wait; Especially when you consider her bosses at Disney will almost certainly want to stage-manage the thing.

But when the date finally comes you’ll find it here, of course.

Watch Justin’s just-released video for Baby (above)!

LOVES it!

Courtney Love looked and sounded fantastic performing with Hole in London this past week. We wish we could have been there!

Keep it up, Court!

And for once, it wasn’t the fault of some lunatic!

Reyna Mason is suing CEC Entertainment, the parent company to Chuck E. Cheese, after she was allegedly hit by a hockey puck.

In February last year, she was just minding her own business while eating pizza with her 9-year old son and his friend when she claims to have been struck in the side of the head by a puck that flew from an air hockey table.

Mason is complaining of memory loss, dizziness and difficulties with her speech after suffering a concussion at the children’s party venue in Skokie, a wealthy Chicago suburb.

Apparently, the puck was not the usual plastic disk used for the game, but a professional hockey puck!

She is suing for more than $50,000.

Wowsa! Seems pretty legit considering she could probably sue for a lot more!

‘Jersey Shore’ star Jenni JWOWW Farley apparently managed to ruffle the feathers of Kim Kardashian at her fashion show earlier this week. Jenni was seated in the front row of Kim’s Bebe-Kardashian show, and instead of snapping photos of Kim, the photographers went crazy trying to get Jenni’s picture and that didn’t sit well with Kim.

Jenni shared that she had no idea she would cause any kind of stir:

Honest to God, I dont know if thats just me being grounded, but I wasnt even expecting to take one picture there, Farley said. I just wanted to sneak in, sit down and watch it and maybe get to meet Kim, but when I walked in there was a lot of publicity. I took it the best way I could.

According to Fox 411, a “handler” for Jenni tried several times to arrange a a face to face meeting, but were shot down because the spotlight needed to stay on Kim.

Kim’s rep denies this claim:

Kim didnt get to meet any of the celebs that were there. She was backstage all morning doing interviews and prep and then went right to her seat when the show started and then was taken immediately backstage after the show for more interviews, said the rep.

Jenni was pretty bummed about not getting to meet the reality star:

I really wanted to go there just to meet Kim, but that didnt happen. I dont know why, Farley said. I was really wishing that I could meet her, I dont know if it was because there was too much media surrounding me, or I took too long answering the media questions. I dont know what happened.

What do you think? Do you think Kim was busy or just peeved that the attention wasn’t solely on her?

Photos by WENN

Audrina Patridge was granted a restraining order last year against a man named Zachary Loring who had been stalking her. He was showing up at her house with creepy poems and drawings. This same man was arrested this morning after he allegedly showed up at her home.

According to TMZ, someone inside Audrina’s house called 911 after the man started pounding on her front door and ringing the doorbell. Audrina was home at the time of the incident.

When police arrived, they found that Loring was in possession of a large knife. He was arrested and booked for felony stalking and misdemeanor vandalism. He’s in jail on $160,000 bail.

How completely frightening. It just goes to show that a restraining order is just a piece of paper – it means nothing if the person doesn’t follow it. It can’t physically protect a person. It’s a miracle that no one was hurt.

Photos by WENN