Aside from OJ Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, there have been many cases of celebrities involved in court cases that have taken over our newsfeeds, newspapers and televisions in the last few years. Not only are these cases interesting, informative and costing the actors, singers and other celebrities thousands, they might be teaching you a thing or two about law you didn’t already know.

Below are the top 5 most high profile accident cases, of the last ten years, involving people in the lime light:

1 Harrison Ford and the Door

Just the other week it was announced that a British film production company creating the latest Star Wars Film are paying Harrison Ford £1.6million. They were sued because Ford had his leg broken by a hydraulic door that fell on him during filming. The 71 year old was hit on the leg with a force that was the same weight as a small car.
It is true that the Star Wars Force Awakened, but that it landed right on Ford’s leg.

2 Oscar Pistorius’ Murdered Girlfriend

Everyone, everywhere has been discussing the Oscar Pistorius case. If you haven’t heard about him, he is the Paralympic athlete that was recently convicted of murdering his girlfriend in their home in South Africa.

On 14th February 2013 Pistorius shot and killed South African model Reeva Steenkamp when she was hiding behind the door in the bathroom. He argued that he had shot the gun but he thought she was an imposter and it was self-defence. The trial proceedings started going on in 2013 and are still going on today.

The proceedings were adjourned until 30th June to enable Pistorius to undergo a Psychiatric Evaluation. Once he was deemed fit to be tried, the legal proceedings really began. At first he was convicted of Culpable Homicide (they argued he had not intent to kill her) and sentenced to 5 years of which he served one, after this he was released on house arrest for good behaviour to serve the rest of his sentence.

The family of Reeva appealed and in 2015 this sentence was overturned and he was found guilty of murder. This case still continues now and on the 15th September 2016 the family made a fresh bid to appeal the lenient 6 year jail sentence.

3 Jennifer Hudson

Sadly, in 2008 Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew were murdered. The case was long and drawn out because of the severity of the crime. The murderer, Hudson’s brother in-law, shot and killed her 57 year old mother and 29 year old brother at their home in Chicago. He also kidnapped and murdered her nephew who was only 7 years old.

After months of court hearings and proceedings, William Balfour (Jennifer Hudsons brother in law) was denied bail and convicted of three counts of first degree murder, one count of home invasion among a number of other things. The Judge was quoted by ABC news to have said of him, ‘Your Heart is an Arctic night and your soul is as baron as dark space’.

4 Amanda Bynes

You may know her from films like She’s the Man, Hairspray and What a Girl Wants, but her rom-com fame was heavily overshadowed by her time in the spotlight for something completely different. In 2012 Bynes was charged for two alleged hit and run incidents following years of DUI’s (Drinking under the Influence) and driving using a mobile phone. However, her case was resolved with a financial settlement between her and her victims.



If your case is important to you, even if it is not as high profile as some of these, it still means a lot. Contact Vincent Solicitors now.