Lawsuit against Roman Polanski alleging director raped teenager in 1973 settled and dismissed

Four women came forward between 2017 and 2019 accusing Roman Polanski of abusing them in the 1970s — three of them were allegedly minors at the time. File photo

Roman Polanski, the Oscar-winning film director who fled the US decades ago after admitting to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old, will no longer face trial over an alleged sexual assault of another minor after reaching a settlement.

The latest case against the now 91-year-old director, which concerned an alleged sexual attack in 1973, had been due in civil court in Los Angeles next August.

The civil suit, filed last year, claimed Polanski took a then-teenager — named anonymously in filings as Jane Doe — to dinner at a restaurant in Los Angeles in 1973. The lawsuit alleged that he gave her tequila, and when she began to feel dizzy, drove her to his home, where she alleged he sexually assaulted her.

“She told him: ‘Please don’t do this,’” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, told reporters in March, saying the alleged assault caused the plaintiff “tremendous physical, emotional pain and suffering”.

However, the case was “settled in the summer to the parties’ mutual satisfaction and has now been formally dismissed,” Polanski’s lawyer, Alexander Rufus-Isaacs has now told Agence France-Presse. Allred confirmed this to the Guardian, saying a settlement of claims was agreed “to their mutual satisfaction”.

Polanski, a best director Oscar winner for The Pianist (2002), has always denied wrongdoing.

The lawsuit, which sought unspecified damages, was filed in June 2023, just before the expiration of a California law that allowed for an extended window for claims against the alleged perpetrators of sexual crimes. Court papers filed in California in July said a “conditional” accord had been reached.

Further allegations

Polanski is a divisive figure.

He admitted to the statutory rape of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in a plea bargain in 1977 to avoid a trial on more serious charges. But he fled to France the following year, after serving 42 days in jail, when it appeared a judge was reconsidering his release. 

He has been a fugitive from the US ever since. Geimer has subsequently defended Polanski, and was photographed with him last year.

Four women came forward between 2017 and 2019 accusing Polanski of abusing them in the 1970s — three of them were allegedly minors at the time — including artist Marianne Barnard, who said Polanski sexually assaulted her when she was 10. 

Charlotte Lewis, a British actor, in 2010 accused Polanski of sexually assaulting her in 1983 when she was 16. Polanski has denied all of the allegations. In May, a French court acquitted Polanski of defaming Lewis after he denied raping her when she was a teenager.