The plaintiffs’ lawyers in the James Franco case announced that they had reached a provisional agreement on allegations that the actor bullied students at his theater and film school to lead to sexual situations.
The two sides filed a joint status report in the Los Angeles Superior Court telling a judge that an agreement was reached in the class action lawsuit filed by Studio 4 alumni, founded by Franco, which was extinguished in 2017. Elements of the case they can live, however.
The document was filed on February 11, but the agreement was not previously reported.
Actresses and alumni Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, who filed the lawsuit for the first time in 2019, agreed to withdraw their individual claims under the agreement, according to the court’s filing. The lawsuit claims that Franco forced his students to perform in increasingly explicit sex scenes on camera, in an “orgy setting” that went well beyond what is acceptable on Hollywood film sets.
JAMES FRANCO ACCUSED OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT BY 5 WOMEN, GRILLED BY SETH MEYERS
He claimed that Franco “sought to create a channel for young women who were subjected to their personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education” and that students were led to believe that roles in Franco’s films would be available to those who accompanied him.
James Franco filed a lawsuit against him over alleged misconduct at his acting school.
(REUTERS / Mike Blake)
The suit states that the incidents occurred in a master class on sex scenes that Franco taught at Studio 4, which opened in 2014.
The two sides had been discussing an agreement for several months, and the process was interrupted while they were talking.
The lawyers for the plaintiffs at the firm of Valli Kane & Vagnini, LLP, confirmed the settlement in a statement to the Associated Press on Saturday night, adding that it will be “later memorialized in a Joint Settlement to be presented to the Court at a later date” , but without providing any additional comments or details.
Franco representatives did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment.
In a previous lawsuit, Franco’s lawyers, while praising the #MeToo movement that helped inspire the lawsuit, called his allegations “false and inflamed, legally unfounded and filed as a class action with the obvious aim of getting the most out of it. possible publicity to attract attention – hungry applicants. “They stressed that Tither-Kaplan had already expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work with Franco.
JAMES FRANCO SCHOOL ACCUSED TO SEXUALLY EXPLORE 2 WOMEN
The suit also names Franco’s producer Rabbit Bandini and his partners, including Vince Jolivette and Jay Davis, as defendants.
Claims of sexual exploitation by other authors in the class action lawsuit will be dismissed without prejudice, meaning that they can be restated, the joint situation report said.
The allegations of fraud made by these plaintiffs will be “subject to limited release”, the document says, without further details or explanations.
Actor James Franco settled his lawsuit for sexual misconduct at his drama school.
(Reuters)
The document does not reveal how much money may be involved in the deal.
Before filing the lawsuit, Tither-Kaplan publicized his allegations of sexual misconduct against Franco with other women in the Los Angeles Times after Franco won a Golden Globe for “The Disaster Artist” in early 2018, when the wave of #MeToo movement was sweeping Hollywood.
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In a subsequent interview on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, Franco called the stories of sexual misconduct about him inaccurate, but said, “If I did something wrong, I will fix it. I have to do it.”
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Franco, 42, best known for starring in comedies with Seth Rogen, has generally kept a low profile since the accusations arose in a highly productive period that culminated in the acclaimed “Disaster Artist”.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.