Almost a year after Paula Abdul hit American Idol EP and So You Think You Can Dance judge Nigel Lythgoe with a sexual assault and gender violence lawsuit, the former collaborators have settled.
“I am grateful that this chapter has successfully come to a close and is now something I can now put behind me,” Grammy winner and veteran TV judge Abdul told Deadline Friday in a statement via her Johnson & Johnson legal team.
“This has been a long and hard-fought personal battle,” Abdul went on say of the multiple assault claims against the much accussed Lythgoe.  “I hope my experience can serve to inspire other women, facing similar struggles, to overcome their own challenges with dignity and respect, so that they too can turn the page and begin a new chapter of their lives.”
First indicated in dismissal notices filed last month, not long after Abdul filed an amended complaint in October with details of a third attack by Lythgoe and more, the December 12 notice of settlement pretty much closes up the whole case.
The matter was scheduled to go to trial in August of next year. A heating next month in LA Superior Court on previous motions could now be the official unconditional end of this four-claim complaint, if it isn’t taken off the docket beforehand.
The settlement is confidential, but I hear both parties l feels it was “a fair conclusion,” according to an individual with knowledge of the agreement.