Names and faces

LITTLE ROCK — Patricia Cornwell, author of the bestselling Kay Scarpetta mystery novels, won a judgment of $50.9 million against her former financial managers in federal court Tuesday in Boston. Cornwell accused her former money management firm Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP and its former principal, Evan Snapper, of negligence in the handling of her finances. Lawyers for the New York firm and Snapper said there was no money missing from Cornwell’s accounts. They blamed money losses on the economic downturn and what they called Cornwell’s extravagant lifestyle, which included Ferraris, helicopters and a temporary apartment in New York City that she rented for $40,000 per month. Cornwell, 56, testified that Anchin moved her from a conservative management strategy to an aggressive one without her permission. She said she fired the firm in 2009 after discovering that her net worth was a little under $13 million despite having eight-figure earnings in each of the previous four years. Cornwell said the firm caused her to miss a book deadline for the first time in her career when it failed to find her a suitable place to write after renovation work on her house in Concord went on much longer than expected. “This was very destabilizing. I really lost my ability to focus and concentrate. I did not know what the book was about anymore,” Cornwell said. The lawsuit said the missed deadline caused Cornwell to lose one year’s income: about $15 million in nonrecoverable advances and commission. The $50.9 million judgment in Cornwell’s favor was, in the words of jury foreman John Martus, a “fair decision.” Cornwell is the author of 20 mystery novels featuring tough medical examiner Kay Scarpetta.

New York City police are investigating harassment complaints made by actor Alec Baldwin and a New York Post photographer after an altercation. Photographer G.N. Miller said the former 30 Rock star yelled racial epithets and other insults when he was trying to take pictures of the actor outside his Manhattan apartment. Baldwin maintains that he hollered at the photographer but never said anything racially biased. He called the allegations “outrageous.” Baldwin called police and filed a harassment complaint Monday after the incident. The photographer later filed a cross-complaint.