The suit says it was Lane's boyfriend, radio personality Chris Booker, who made the initial call to Rendell, hoping to leverage their common connection as Masons to get the name of a lawyer. The suit also said Lane was recognized by police in New York, who had seen New York Post gossip stories on her leaked by Mendte and used them to "belittle, embarrass and threaten" her.
The suit also names CBS3 and accuses the station of defaming Lane before and after her firing on Jan. 1, and of ignoring her suspicions that someone was hacking into her personal e-mail.
CBS3 fired Mendte in June after an FBI investigation found that he had accessed her e-mail hundreds of times. Mendte pleaded guilty last month and is awaiting sentencing Nov. 24.
Philadelphia Daily News gossip columnist Dan Gross, who ran columns and blog posts about Lane, was accused in the suit of "conspiring with Mendte" and "obtaining the fruits of the illegal activity through the conspiracy."
Gross and Daily News editor Michael Days declined comment, saying they had not seen the suit. Scott Baker, general counsel for Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Daily News and The Inquirer, said, "Without commenting on the merits of the case, we're certainly going to vigorously defend Dan and the Daily News."
Mendte's attorney, Michael A. Schwartz of Pepper Hamilton, also declined comment as did a representative of CBS3.
The suit, filed by Paul Rosen of Spector Gadon & Rosen, replaces and expands upon an earlier civil complaint that Rosen had filed. The suit specifically claims defamation and invasion of privacy.
Mendte admitted to federal authorities that he installed a keystroke-capture device on Lane's work computer. Mendte's intrusions - more than 7,000 in all, according to the complaint - were believed to have started in March 2006.
