Quentin Tarantino Settles Lawsuit Over Alan Ball's Screaming Birds

Quentin Tarantino's lawsuit against his neighbor, director/writer Alan Ball, over an exotic bird menagerie, is now six feet under. Tarantino had sued in March, claiming that  "blood-curdling screams" emitted by Ball's exotic birds had "seriously disrupted [his] ability to work as a writer in his home." Two weeks ago, the case was dismissed after the summons was never served.

The lawsuit was loud; the resolution was quiet.

News that the case had gone the way of the birds was delivered matter-of-factly by Tarantino's attorney, Marty Singer, in a flattering New York Times profile of the celebrity litigator.

According to the lawsuit, after Tarantinto complained about the birds, Ball promised to build a soundproof outdoor aviary to reduce the noise, and until then, the birds would be kept inside until the structure was built. The move temporarily relieved Tarantino of some of the noise, he claimed, but by last June, the exotic birds were allegedly once again left outside for several hours per day, which prompted Tarantino to get Singer involved.

Details of how the two director/writers are now able to co-exist without a court remedy isn't known. Tarantino, though, has managed to find enough peace and quiet to finish up on a script for a new film.

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