A sexual exploitation lawsuit involving actor James Franco has been tentatively settled.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs confirmed the agreement in a statement on Feb. 20, as reported by Deadline. In the statement, the attorneys from the firm of Valli Kane & Vagnini claimed it will be "further memorialized in a Joint Stipulation of Settlement to be filed with the Court at a later date," but didn't stipulate if there'd be "any possible monetary exchange."
Los Angeles Superior Court also received a filing on Feb. 11 from both sides of the lawsuit this week, which indicated that a settlement had been reached tentatively. It wasn't revealed until Feb. 20 that defendants in that filing includes Franco's production company, Rabbit Bandini, as well as the Oscar nominee's partners Vince Jolivette and Jay Davis.
Filed in 2019 by actresses and ex-students Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, the lawsuit claimed that Franco pressured his students to perform in explicit sex scenes on camera in an "orgy type setting." It also alleged the actor "sought to create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education."
Per court filings, the plaintiffs agreed to drop their individual claims as part of the latest agreement. The sexual exploitation allegations of other plaintiffs in the class action suit will also be dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could technically be re-filed. Additionally, fraud allegations brought by the class action plaintiffs will be "subjected to limited release."
At the time the lawsuit was initially filed, Franco addressed the claims made against him during an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Franco said at the time that the sexual misconduct stories about him were inaccurate, but said, "If I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it. I have to."
While Franco's attorney has not released an official comment about the settlement agreement, they said in their filings that the claims against their client were "false and inflammatory, legally baseless and brought as a class action with the obvious goal of grabbing as much publicity as possible for attention-hungry Plaintiffs."
Franco is best known for his roles in films including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films, Pineapple Express, Milk, 127 Hours and The Disaster Artist. In addition to being nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his role in 127 Hours in 2011, Franco won the Golden Globe for Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his role in The Disaster Artist in 2018.
While it's unclear at this time how much money may be involved, the settlement deal will be submitted for preliminary court approval by March 15.
Source: Deadline
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