French-Polish director Roman Polanski, who fled the United States after admitting to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old decades ago, will no longer go to trial after a settlement was reached on charges of assaulting another minor. No, his lawyer announced Tuesday.
The latest lawsuit against the director of “The Pianist” 1973 sexual assault allegationswas scheduled to be filed in Los Angeles civil court next August, but has now been withdrawn, Polanski’s US lawyer told Agence France-Presse.
Alexander Rufus Isaacs said in an email that the case was “settled in the summer to the satisfaction of both parties and has now been formally dismissed.”
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The lawsuit, filed last year, alleges that Polanski took the then-teenage boy, anonymously identified in the filing as Jane Doe, to dinner at a Los Angeles restaurant in 1973. .
The suspect allegedly forced her to drink tequila and drove her home when she started feeling dizzy.
“She told him, ‘Please don’t do this,'” the plaintiff’s attorney, Gloria Allred, told reporters in March.
“She alleges that Defendant ignored her pleas and that Defendant Polanski removed Plaintiff’s clothes and sexually assaulted her, causing her great physical and emotional pain. I am insisting.”
The civil suit, which seeks unspecified damages, was filed in June 2023, just before the expiration of a California law that gave alleged perpetrators of sex crimes an extension of time to make claims.
Court documents filed in California in July say a “conditional” agreement has been reached.
“We have agreed to settle the claims to the satisfaction of both parties,” Allred said in an email late Tuesday.
CBS News has reached out to Allred and Rufus-Isaacs for further comment.
Opinions are divided about Oscar winner Polanski, now 91 years old, with some in the film industry praising his creative talent and others claiming he was always a sex offender.
Polanski admitted to statutory rape of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1977 in a plea deal to avoid trial on more serious charges.
But the following year, when the judge appeared to be reconsidering his release, he fled to France after serving 42 days in prison.
Geimer has since defended Polanski and was photographed with him last year.
In May, a French court acquitted Polanski of defamation charges after British actor Charlotte Lewis accused her of sexually assaulting him when she was a teenager.
The director has always denied any wrongdoing.
