GOLDIE HAWN - GOLDIE HAWN COMES OUT ON TOP IN APARTMENT BATTLE

GOLDIE HAWN has ended up victorious in a battle with a real estate broker.

The PRIVATE BENJAMIN beauty doesn't have to pay a real estate broker $230,000 (GBP153,000), the APPELLATE DIVISION appeal court ruled in a decision made public on Friday (04APR03).

Broker LYNNE SEGAL had accused the star of swindling her on a commission when she bought her $3.8 million (GBP2.5 million) penthouse apartment in New York's Midtown Manhattan in 1998.

Hawn's side contended Segal had nothing to do with that deal and deserved nothing.

The Appellate Division agreed with the actress, saying Segal "failed to show" that she's entitled to any money.

Segal first found the 54th-floor apartment with sweeping Central Park views as a rental for Hawn in 1995, while she was in town filming THE FIRST WIVES CLUB.

Hawn's production company leased the apartment and paid Segal a $15,000 (GBP10,000) commission.

The actress later moved into another rental apartment in the same building, but when the 54th-floor apartment went up for sale in 1998, she bought it and paid a fee to the realtor handling the apartment.

Segal contended that because she originally found the apartment, she should get a six per cent commission - even though she had nothing to do with the sale.