Woman seeks to sue Eastwood - again

A disabled woman who unsuccessfully sued Clint Eastwood is seeking a new trial, claiming the jury was unfairly swayed by the actor’s celebrity status.

Diane zum Brunnen, who has muscular dystrophy, sued Eastwood in 1997, alleging that his Mission Ranch hotel near Carmel, California, did not have enough room for her wheelchair.

Eastwood said he had tried to make the hotel as accessible as possible while preserving the ranch’s historic character, and he called the case an extortion attempt.

A jury found Eastwood and the ranch liable for not having enough signs to a wheelchair-accessible restroom and no ramp access to the hotel office.

But the jurors said zum Brunnen deserved no damages, because they believed she went to the ranch only to find grounds for a suit.

Her new motion claims jurors were ‘‘predictably biased’’ toward Eastwood, pointing out that he played piano for them when they visited Mission Ranch to see the layout and signed autographs for them when the case was over.

The star’s lawyer Charles Keller, said the suggestion the jury was partial to Eastwood ‘‘is very distressing.’’