-== TARANTINO'S FISTFUL O' LAWSUITS ==-

by Daniel Franke

Maybe Pulp Fiction auteur Quentin Tarantino should try takeout. Restaurant dining in the last year alone stands to cost him upward of $20 million.

And it's not steaks and martinis that are running up the ex-video store geek's tab--it's lawsuits. On Thursday, New York fashion stylist Leila Mwangi, 24, filed a $15 million civil complaint against Tarantino, claiming he slugged her during an altercation earlier this month at an East Village Italian eatery.

Tarantino--currently acting in the Broadway remake of Wait Until Dark--is already being sued by producer Don Murphy for $5 million, the result of a skirmish at a Los Angeles restaurant last year.

Mwangi says the Oscar winner was aiming for her boyfriend, but missed his target and gave her "a huge gash over her head."

Mwangi's beau, photographer Barron Clairborne, said things got medieval between him and Tarantino when a conversation at the Three of Cups restaurant went racial. (Mwangi and Clairborne are both black.)

Discussing Hollywood's portrayal of blacks, Tarantino reportedly said, "I'm surprised that white Americans accept Wesley Snipes because he's so African-looking." (Tarantino claimed afterward that Clairborne got hot when he stated that black people have "broad noses.")

In any event, according to Clairborne, Tarantino was in no mood to apologize, and he accused the photographer of "race-baiting."

"Quentin stands up and starts yelling, 'If you don't get out of my way right now, I'll bust your ass,'" Clairborne told the New York Daily News. "So, he takes a swing at me. I ducked, and he hits my girlfriend. I hit him back and then everyone jumped in to break it up."

Mwangi--whose criminal complaint against Tarantino failed to inspire authorities to press charges--claims in her suit that she was "beaten, battered and injured" by the director, according to the Daily News.

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