Paris Hilton settles $12m defamation suit

August 23rd, 2007

PARIS Hilton has settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by a rival socialite who accused the heiress of planting defamatory stories about her in a gossip column, officials said today.

Hilton, who was at the centre of a worldwide media frenzy in June after she was sent to prison for violating probation, had been sued for $US10 million ($12.4m) by actress Zeta Graff, according to court documents.

Jury selection for a civil trial was due to get underway next Tuesday but officials at Santa Monica County Court said the case had been resolved.

“It’s been settled,” a court clerk said.

No further information about the details of the settlement were revealed. It was not clear how much, if anything, Hilton had paid to settle the case.

The settlement headed off a potentially embarrassing court trial for Hilton, who emerged from prison earlier this year declaring that she was determined to change her party-loving lifestyle.

Graff had filed her suit in 2005, alleging Hilton was the source for a story which appeared in the gossip pages of the New York Post claiming that she had attacked her in a London nightclub.

The story alleged Graff attacked Hilton in a jealous rage while the socialite was dancing with her then fiancee, Paris Latsis. Latsis reportedly dated Graff for two years.

From correspondents in Los Angeles
-Herald sun