Show Business: Let the Stellar Seller Beware

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The ruling undoubtedly will make stars more wary about what products they tell an adoring public to buy. Says Los Angeles Agent Marty Ingels, who has lined up endorsements for many: "The deals that are pending are suspended; and the ones I've done, the celebrities are screaming. Where does a ruling like this stop? Is Morris the cat going to be leaned on?" Manhattan Adman Lloyd Kolmer predicts heavy haggling over those endorsements that are signed. Stars will demand that manufacturers indemnify them against product-liability suits—the equivalent of malpractice insurance. Unglamorous, maybe, but better than forking over part of that fat fee to misled admirers.