Baldwin Brothers Decade Long Photo Dispute In Court

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (December 14, 2006) — It would have been made in a fraction of a second, but a never-taken photograph of acting’s Baldwin brothers became a decade-long legal dispute.

The case went to court Wednesday on Long Island when jurors heard from photographer James Edstrom. He says the family cost him $100,000 by backing out of a planned picture of all four brothers: Alec, Daniel, Stephen and William.

But their mother, Carol Baldwin, and her lawyer, Neil Greenberg, say there never was a clear deal.

The case goes back to 1996. According to Edstrom, Carol Baldwin agreed to arrange the picture as payment for his work organizing a fundraiser for her breast-cancer charity, now the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Care Center at Stony Brook University Medical Center.

Edstrom estimated he could have made $100,000 by selling the rights to the image.

But he said the family went back on the agreement and let another photographer take the photo. Edstrom, also a publicist, said Alec Baldwin told him, “I’m not going to give this to a paparazzi.”

“I started crying,” Edstrom said. “I was in shock because that was my payday.”

Carol Baldwin and Greenberg said there was no explicit arrangement. Greenberg said Edstrom invited the other photographer to accompany him and simply missed the picture.

Carol Baldwin and at least one of her sons were expected to testify later in the trial.