PARIS HILTON - QUINTANA'S LITIGIOUS PAST UNDER FIRE

PARIS HILTON is not the first celebrity BRIAN QUINTANA has accused of harassment, in the 1990s he hit HART TO HART star STEPHANIE POWERS will similar legal action - but he denies making a habit of lawsuits.

The celebrity socialite was slapped with a restraining order at Los Angeles Superior Court last week (07FEB06), after complaints from promoter Quintana that she'd branded him a "lazy Mexican" and was ruining his business.

In 1995 Quintana sought a similar judgement against Powers when he worked for a charity linked to the flame-haired actress, insisting she would get him drunk and force him to get into bed with her.

Just as Quintana claimed Hilton made threatening calls warning him to stay away from her boyfriend STAVROS NIARCHOS, the party organiser said he began to receive threats from Powers' entourage.

He told US tabloid the Globe in 1995, "The calls said, 'Watch your back.' He warned, 'You should be - you're a dead man. You sure messed with the wrong woman.'"

Quintana is adamant he takes no pleasure from filing lawsuits against celebrities.

He tells the New York Daily News, "That's ridiculous. It advances my business in no way, and it actually hurts it.

"Look at how litigious Paris is and how many criminal investigations there are involving her. You know, this is the MO (modus operandi) of numerous celebrities who think they're above the law and the little guys who should just go away."

Quintana's case against Powers was dropped when Powers submitted legal documents proving she was overseas for most of the period Quintana claimed the abuse took place.