Celebrity Justice
Suit: Tom Hanks' Wife Rita Flips Out on the Stand

Usually one of the nicest gals in Hollywood, Tom Hanks' wife, actress/producer Rita Wilson allegedly flipped out on the stand at an arbitration hearing, after they allegedly refused to pay an Idaho contractor. Now that same contractor claims the A-list couple is out to get them.
Tom and Rita
According to the lawsuit, filed in a Blaine County, Id. District Court, the couple hired Storey Construction in 2001 to build a luxe house for them in Sun Valley. In July 2002, the home was finished and Hanks and Wilson moved in. In the suit, Storey alleges they were not paid for the work they did. The contractor claims that after repeated requests to be paid, they were forced to take out a lien on the home, and took Hanks and his wife to arbitration in 2003.

That's where it gets interesting.

At the arbitration, Hanks and Wilson filed a counter-claim, alleging that the work was shoddy and demanded $800,000 in damages. Then, at the arbitration hearing, the documents describe what Storey calls "Rita Wilson's bizarre conduct." She "leaped from the witness stand," the lawsuit states, "and started screaming hysterically. Rita Wilson then stormed out of the hearing room." The lawsuit states that after the arbitration, Wilson and Hanks were denied their counter claim, and Storey was awarded close to 100 percent of the total amount sought in the arbitration.

This suit says Storey construction was paid in full in 2004 and had no contact with Hanks and Wilson, until suddenly they received a demand for arbitration from the couple in November of this year, claiming Storey owed them $2.5 million in damages because the construction was bad.

Storey says this demand is "motivated by revenge." The suit asks a judge to award Storey damages, and to deny the couple's request for another round of arbitration.

Calls to reps for Tom and Rita were not immediately returned.

Reader Comments

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31. I guarantee this couple got what they deserved, especially Rita. Tom may be one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, but that doesn't necessarily extend to his partner. Storey Construction does quality work and she just tried to muscle them and she couldn't pull it off like she can in other places more blinded by their name!

Posted at 5:58PM on Dec 22nd 2007 by Catherine

32. Rita is not nice. SHe cut me off on Beverly Blvd and gave me the bird.I was going the speed Limit (45moh) Oh yes the bitch was on a cellphone in an SUV. I know it was her. We both pulled out of CBS/TV City

Posted at 2:25AM on Dec 22nd 2007 by STAN

33. Cheap stars, the more they have the stingier and greedy they become!

Posted at 8:41AM on Dec 22nd 2007 by Anne

34. Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson stay out of the limelight for the most part. You rarely see them unless it's a Premier or Award show. So....I highly doubt they would be putting themsleves out there in this type of situation unless they really felt it was necessary. Just because they're celebs doesn't mean they don't come across shady contractors like us everyday people. They have no reason to lie...the contractor, on the other hand, has every reason to put this out in the news in the hopes that the Hank's will pay just to not have the bad publiciity.

Posted at 3:27AM on Dec 22nd 2007 by Lolo

35. They paid the contractor ... now its their turn to prove their case about subpar workmanship.
We'll see how this plays out.

Posted at 4:54AM on Dec 23rd 2007 by Sirri

36. I have been to Sun Valley and have many friends who have had homes there for years. Over the past 15 years celebrities have been moving in, buying up property, stiffing hard working natives on bills (restaurant taps, shop bills, etc.), NEGOTIATING prices or asking for freebies on normally priced goods, the list goes on and on. They go into restaurants and expect other un-known clients to expedite their meals so THEY can have the table they want. They are extremely disliked. They are rude.

If the house was of shoddy construction, then they would have sued within 1-2 months of moving in. Bad work is immediately apparent. This is a case of a vengeful star and his wife's over inflated ego, people who think that because they get so many freebies from big companies that the average joe has to foot their bill too. BOYCOTT their movies! SHAME ON YOU TOM AND RITA!!!! SHAME ON YOU! I hope you have to pay 2.5 million in counter damages to the contractor.. Why don't you buy a place in Aspen.... more your speed.... FAKE..

By the way...NEWSFLASH..... most people could not care less about you....... you are like court jesters... for entertainment only.....

Posted at 1:55PM on Dec 23rd 2007 by anna

37. tom hanks is worth OVER one Billion Dollars.
Why not pay the Guy his Money Tom ?

Posted at 9:03AM on Dec 22nd 2007 by allen gerard

38. Good for the company. Tom Hanks has millions of dollars. Why would he stiff these people? I think it's probably the doing of his crazy ass wife! I don't like her and have never been a fan. There's a reason there's only one "star" in this family.

Posted at 11:20AM on Dec 22nd 2007 by Roni

39. I wish I had million dollar homes to be sueing over! too funny

Posted at 1:13PM on Dec 22nd 2007 by Becky

40. Is there anything WORSE than these grossly overpaid spoiled rotten snobs in Hollyweird??? H**L NO!!!!! The more they have the more they want to KEEP and the more "entitled" they think they are. I wish for ONCE that someone would give these brats some REAL problems instead of the ones they create for themselves by being so damned "entitled". Then they would learn the difference.

Posted at 4:37PM on Dec 22nd 2007 by FlyOverCountry

41. These nuts threatened to sue the contractor for invasion of privacy, what asses. Tom Hanks "seems" like a nice guy but I saw him once filming Turner and Hooch and people in Pacific Grove waited for him to come out at the end of the scene in the hopes he might sign autographs and say hello to "fans" and when the scene cut he walked through the crowd without stopping, waving almost dismissively at these fans with a "I'm so above this" smirk on his face (my impression). It was interesting to observe. I always thought he seemed shallow, dumping his Sacto wife and kid and focusing on what else? Himself. Same old story.

This is a snippet from an article on the dispute in Idaho:

Stanislaw stated in his brief that he had received a six-page letter dated Jan. 4 from Hanks and Wilson’s Boise attorney, Geoffrey J. McConnell, threatening to sue Storey.

"If your client does not immediately stipulate to sealing the record in the Hanks/Wilson matter, and additional media catches wind of this lawsuit resulting in the publication of my clients’ address or otherwise enabling stalkers to find our clients, both you and your client will face liability and damages …" the letter states.

"If our clients are physically or emotionally harmed in any way by Storey’s reckless actions, all responsible parties will be liable for invasion of privacy, breach of confidence, reckless endangerment and a host of other causes of action, and the damages associated therewith will be astronomical."

"…if an injury—or even a real threat of injury—occurs to Mr. Hanks or to his family as a result of the disclosures in Storey’s complaint, Mr. Hanks’ ability and freedom to work will be greatly affected. Given that Mr. Hanks makes millions of dollars per picture, the potential damages to you and your client would be tremendous."

The letter states that the filing of the suit had caused Hanks and Wilson to take additional, expensive security measures.

Posted at 10:11PM on Dec 22nd 2007 by Life

42. Tom is a great guy, but everyone in the industry knows she's a total nightmare to deal with...not the nice person she comes across as...Nice guys marry some horrible, mean women sometimes...unfortunate, but this fight with the contractor has been going on for a long time and everyone has heard the horror stories of having to deal with her and how she's out of control and terrible to deal with...

Posted at 11:02PM on Dec 22nd 2007 by Helga

43. If Tom was such a "nice guy" he wouldn't be married to such a shrew... No, true "nice guys" marry nice gals. Sounds to me like he's really kind of a push-over and a wimp.

Posted at 11:52PM on Dec 22nd 2007 by Jeanie

44. I am a subcontractor myself, and as someone else mentioned, they went cheap. I see it time and time again. Wealthy couple takes lowest bidding contractor, house is not perfect, they nitpick it to death. The Shower doesn't drain right, Drywall is wavy, perhaps a pipe leaks causing a Drywall repair/ceiling retexture. All very minor but annoying problems. Problems they could have avoided by going with a true custom builder and not using unskilled/illegal labor. Which you can bet was what built their house. Period.

Posted at 2:13PM on Dec 23rd 2007 by TheTenia

45. Tom wants 2.5 million in damages??? Sounds like the whole house to me! Just HOW MUCH is that house worth, anyway? Sheeeeeeeeeesh!

I should have THEIR problems!

Posted at 12:07PM on Dec 23rd 2007 by SpoiledRottenCelebsMakeMeSick

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