Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski will not go on trial in Los Angeles in an alleged 1973 rape of an underage woman after legal professionals on each side reached a settlement.
Gloria Allred, the lawyer for the plaintiff, confirmed “a settlement of claims was agreed to by the events to their mutual satisfaction.” Alexander Rufus-Isaacs, the filmmaker’s lawyer, stated the matter was “settled in the summertime” and has since been “formally dismissed.”
The phrases of the settlement weren’t instantly disclosed. The plaintiff sought unspecified damages.
Allred’s shopper filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to Polanski final yr in Los Angeles Superior Court. In the swimsuit, the plaintiff — who has not publicly recognized herself — alleged Polanski raped her after giving her tequila, “inflicting her great bodily and emotional ache and struggling.”
Polanski’s legal professionals denied the declare.
“Mr. Polanski strenuously denies the allegations within the lawsuit and believes that the right place to do this case is within the courts,” Rufus-Isaacs stated in a press release on the time.
Polanski has been shadowed by one other statutory rape case for many years.
He was charged in 1977 with drugging and raping a 13-year-old woman. He reached an settlement with prosecutors that he would plead responsible to a lesser cost of illegal intercourse with a minor. He anticipated to be sentenced to time served and probation.
But in 1978, Polanski fled to Europe earlier than his sentencing. He remains to be thought of a fugitive from justice by American authorities, and a number of makes an attempt to extradite him have failed.
Polanski is without doubt one of the key figures within the New Hollywood filmmaking revival of the late Nineteen Sixties and ‘70s. He is finest identified for making “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown.” He received the perfect director Oscar for the Holocaust drama “The Pianist.”
Polanski was additionally seared into nationwide consciousness in 1969 after members of the Manson household murdered his pregnant spouse, Sharon Tate, and 4 others at her dwelling.
In early 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled Polanski from its membership ranks.