UPDATED: Filmmaker Brett Ratner and his alleged sexual assault victim Melanie Kohler have ended their legal battle nearly a year after it first made waves in Hollywood. Deadline reports that each party has announced an end to their legal dispute and Ratner and Kohler have voiced “their mutual desire to ‘move on.'” Ratner was the subject of an allegation made by Kohler last fall, just days before The Los Angeles Times published its own story, which included accounts of alleged sexual harassment and abused by six different women.
In November of last year, Ratner was accused of harassment by six women in an extensive Times article. Actresses who came forward with allegations against the “Rush Hour” director included Olivia Munn, who claims Ratner masturbated in front of her while she was delivering food to his trailer on the set of the film “After the Storm,” and Natasha Henstridge, who alleged Ratner prevented her from leaving his apartment in New York City and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Two weeks before the Times article was published, Kohler took to Facebook to allege that Ratner “preyed” on her in 2004 or 2005 when she was drunk at a club and took her back to actor Robert Evans’ home, where she alleges he raped her. Though Kohler quickly deleted the post, Ratner hit her with a libel lawsuit days later. Deadline reports that Ratner will drop that lawsuit, which he filed in Hawaii, imminently.
Kohler’s attorney Robert Kaplan told Deadline, “I have been honored to represent Melanie Kohler and we are pleased that Mr. Ratner agreed to dismiss this case. Cases like this are very difficult, especially when the events happened more than a decade ago and memories are cloudy and unclear. The public conversation about this case has become very painful for Melanie. This result will allow Melanie to move on with her life and spend more time with her family.”
Ratner provided a statement to Deadline that read, “I’m happy that the matter has been resolved.”
Deadline noted that “that no monies were exchanged or paid by either party, as a condition of the dismissal, or for any other reason.”
