Roman Polanski's lawsuit over the 1973 rape of a minor settled out of court

Director Roman Polanski will not face trial in Los Angeles for his alleged rape of a minor in 1973. The news comes from French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) (via The Hollywood Reporter), which quotes Polanski’s lawyer, Alexander Rufus-Isaacs, as saying that the case was “settled in the summer to the parties’ mutual satisfaction and has now been formally dismissed.” Gloria Allred, the attorney for the anonymous plaintiff, added that “a settlement of claims was agreed to by the parties to their mutual satisfaction.” Polanski was originally set to face trial for the alleged rape in 2025.

Polanski was initially charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He proceeded to flee the country when it seemed like his initial plea bargain was being reconsidered, and could result in a prison sentence. He has been a fugitive since, and according to Variety, efforts to resolve that criminal case and extradite him have been unsuccessful. 

The new suit was filed in June 2023 and alleged that the director raped Jane Doe in 1973 in his home in Benedict Canyon when she was underage. They had met months earlier at a party, according to the suit, after which he proceeded to invite her to dinner and give her shots of tequila, before driving her to his home where she passed out on his bed. “Plaintiff remembers waking up in Defendant’s bed with him lying in the bed next to her,” the lawsuit reads. “He told her that he wanted to have sex with her. Plaintiff, though groggy, told Defendant ‘No.’ She told him, ‘Please don’t do this.'” Per THR, the suit was filed before the expiration of a California law that allowed for an extended window for claims against the alleged perpetrators of sexual crimes.

In a statement submitted at the time of the original filing, Polanski’s attorney wrote, “Mr. Polanski strenuously denies the allegations in the lawsuit and believes that the proper place to try this case is in the courts.”

The director also recently faced a defamation trial in Paris from actor Charlotte Lewis, who claimed he had sexually assaulted her when she was 16. Polanski called the allegations a “heinous lie” in a 2019 interview, which caused Lewis to sue for defamation. Polanski was acquitted of those charges in May.