Brockovich Back in Court

By Stephen M. Silverman

11/11/1997 at 12:00 AM EST

Three men pleaded innocent on Thursday to charges that they tried to extort $310,000 from Erin Brockovich, the blunt and beautiful legal secretary made famous by Julia Roberts in this year's movie bio. The case, being tried in a Ventura, Calif., courtroom, involves Brockovich's ex-husband Shawn Brown, 38, ex-boyfriend Jorg Halaby, 46, and lawyer John Reiner, 43. According to the legal complaint, the trio threatened to run to the tabloids with a story that claimed Brockovich and her boss, Ed Masry (Albert Finney in the movie) had an affair and that she is a bad mother -- neither of which is true, officials told the Associated Press.