‘Very Suspicious Man’ Gets $50K in Celeb Scuffle

Michael Buchanan still regrets the day he shared aisle space with Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck at a store on Melrose Avenue, according to his lawyer.

But, now, at least he's getting $50,000 for it.

Nearly five years after he was, shall we say, aggressively mistaken for a paparazzi at the high-end store Maxfield, a Los Angeles superior court judge ordered Maxfield Enterprises and its security company Exclusive Protection to pay Buchanan $50,000 after a jury found them guilty of false arrest.

The only-in-L.A. saga began back when the two-headed tabloid creature known as “Bennifer” could still be seen in the wilds of Los Angeles. Buchanan was doing some holiday shopping at Maxfield, as were Lopez and Affleck, joined by the usual pack of ravenous paparazzi. The management asked Buchanan to leave the suddenly star-studded store, but would not tell him why. When Buchanan refused, the store’s security guard turned him over to the sheriff’s deputies, who handcuffed him and paraded him around the parking lot, according to his lawyer, Baird Brown.

That’s when the slavering shutterbugs turned their cameras to Buchanan, speculating that he was stalking the star-studded duo, a story that made it into print and television media:  “J. Lo & Ben’s Shopping Scare,” was the headline in US Magazine, which reported that the couple was “watched in L.A. by a very suspicious man,” according to Buchanan’s lawyer.

Buchanan hired Los Angeles attorney Brown to file a civil lawsuit, claiming that the incident damaged his reputation and caused emotional distress.

“We showed the defense was fabricating a story, and the jury agreed,” Brown said. “My take: They were paranoid about the paparazzi and thought one of them had slipped into the inner sanctum.”

Buchanan, recovered from his 15-minutes of unintentional fame, is now working in advertising in Germany.

—  Kellie Schmitt