ABCNews is reporting that Kobe Bryant has agreed in principle to settle a civil suit brought by the woman who accused him of sexual assault.
ESPN.com news services
Mar. 2 Kobe Bryant has agreed in principle to a settlement with the woman who accused him of sexual assault, sources told ABC News on Tuesday.
The NBA star was scheduled to give a deposition Friday, but when that was postponed, speculation arose that a settlement was in the works.
A deposition by the 20-year-old woman scheduled for Wednesday was also canceled, the Los Angeles Times reported in Wednesday’s editions.
The parties were to meet and could have a signed agreement by the end of the week, ABC News reported.
This case was destined to settle. Bryant was scheduled for his deposition on Friday where he would have had to answer questions for the first time under oath. The testimony would have generated a lot of media attention–something that this civil suit has yet to produce.
Kobe is also in the middle of a playoff run. The Lakers are currently one game over .500 and right now would be the eighth seed from the West.
The accuser is now only in this for the money. Her lawyer bills are massive and she has already gotten Bryant to admit that–to some degree–he may have been wrong. Since the accusation in June 2003, the accuser has been married and is now pregnant.
No numbers have been reported on what the dollar value of the settlement will be, but it is rumored to be big.
Post Independent - “The final settlement is enough to pay the attorneys and have a lot left,” sources said, although no exact settlement amount was available. Sources said the woman’s attorneys had hoped for a settlement in the tens of millions, but said the final numbers do not come close to that.
That would make it more than the estimated $1.5 million the woman’s attorneys, Lin Wood of Atlanta and John Clune of Eagle, have spent on the case so far, including hourly billing, travel and other expenses, according to reports by NBC news.
That would put it in the $5-$15 million range.
Nathan adds: I just want to point out that one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, L. Lin Wood of Atlanta, is the civil litigator that represented Richard Jewell (falsely accused of pipebombing Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Games) in his suit against the media. Wood is currently also representing disgraced former Congressman Gary Condit in his suit against reporter Dominick Dunne. In the past, we’ve referred to Wood as the “sue everyone” attorney, after his proclamation that he planned to help Jewell “sue everyone from A to Z.” He has emerged as a ‘go-to’ guy for high-profile cases such as these.
Eric Anderson at 12:07 pm
