Director Brett Ratner has reportedly dropped his defamation lawsuit against Melanie Kohler, who publicly accused him of raping her, because of Kohler's "cloudy and unclear" account of the alleged assault.
In a Facebook post last fall, Kohler accused the "Rush Hour" director of raping her more than a decade ago _ an account that came just days before The Times published allegations made by six other women accusing the producer of sexual misconduct.
Ratner then sued the former marketing executive for defamation in federal court in Hawaii.
On Tuesday, attorneys for the parties issued statements to Deadline signaling an end to the legal battle.
"I have been honored to represent Melanie Kohler and we are pleased that Mr. Ratner agreed to dismiss this case," Kohler's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement.
"Cases like this are very difficult, especially when the events happened more than a decade ago and memories are cloudy and unclear," Kaplan added. "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's attorney, Martin Singer, built on that in his statement to Deadline.
"Since Ms. Kohler's attorney has stated that her client's memories are cloudy and unclear about alleged events from more than a decade ago, Mr. Ratner agreed to dismiss his lawsuit," Singer said.
Kaplan and Singer did not immediately respond to The Times' requests for comment on Tuesday.
