LOS ANGELES, Jul. 9 – Attorney Irving Kanarek’s $11.2 million libel suit against Charles Manson prosecutor Vincent T. Bugliosi was dismissed Thursday because Kanarek failed to meet a deadline to clarify his “meaningless” suit.

Kanarek unsuccessfully defended Manson, who was convicted in 1971 of the murder of actress Sharon Tate and six others.

The libel suit was filed last September, over Bugliosi’s description of Kanarek in his best-selling book, Helter Skelter — The True Story of the Manson Murders.

Kanarek claimed the book’s accounts of his work made him look like a “bumbling, stumbling, foolish, ridiculous, ludicrous attorney who performed delaying, dilatory, disrupting and obstructive measures” during the nine-month trial.

He had sought $2.5 million for loss of prospective law clients, $5 million general damages to his reputation, and $4 million punitive damages.

Superior Judge Robert P. Schifferman dismissed the suit Thursday at the request of Bugliosi’s lawyer and law partner, Robert K. Steinberg, because Kanarek had failed to amend his suit by May 29, an extended deadline set by the court.

Superior Judge Philip Saeta March 16 agreed with Bugliosi’s legal objection that the original suit was too vague, ambiguous and unclear to be tried, and that it was legally “meaningless.” Saeta ordered Kanarek and his lawyer, Roger S. Hanson, to re-write the suit within 45 days, a time limit later extended an extra 30 days.

By MYRNA OLIVER