Hotel porter to sue Crowe

Russell Crowe is facing a lawsuit from the hotel porter he injured at New York City's Mercer Hotel during a telephone rage assault earlier this month, after settlement talks collapsed.

The suit alleges the Gladiator star threw a ceramic bowl at Nestor Estrada after he had hit the clerk in the face with the telephone from his hotel room, and the prosecution will present witnesses to the attack as well as CCTV footage of Crowe's actions.

The New York Daily News reports the bowl shattered against the wall by the 28-year-old's head and Crowe then bowed and assumed a martial arts stance to further intimidate Estrada.

Crowe has already been charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon - and faces a maximum sentence of seven years - and this personal lawsuit will seek punitive and compensatory damages when it is filed at Manhattan Supreme Court.

Estrada sustained a gash to his face in the attack - and Crowe's numerous apologies during a series TV interviews have failed to appease Estrada.