Oprah Winfrey Settles Lawsuit
March 24, 2010— -- Oprah Winfrey has settled a defamation suit filed by a former headmistress of the talk show host's South African boarding school for young girls, lawyers for the two women said Tuesday.
Winfrey and Lerato Nomvuyo Mzamane met privately, "woman to woman" and resolved the dispute to "their mutual satisfaction," according to a statement released jointly by their attorneys.
"Ms. Winfrey testified in her deposition that she did not intend the implications placed on her words by the plaintiff. Ms. Mzamane testified in her deposition that she has no evidence that Ms. Winfrey knowingly made a false statement about her or entertained serious doubt about the truth of what she said. We are pleased both parties have reached a conclusion," the statement said.
No monetary terms were mentioned in the statement.
The suit arose after students at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy School accused one of the dorm matrons, Virginia Tiny Makgobo, of sexual abuse in 2007, according to court documents, prompting Winfrey and the school's executives to call in the authorities to investigate. Makgobo has pleaded not guilty, and her trial is ongoing in South Africa.
Following the allegations, Winfrey met with parents of the students, fired Mzamane as head of the school and held a press conference.
In her meeting with the parents, Winfrey is quoted in court documents as saying: "I'm going to find a new head of the academy for the school. ... Dorm parents are gone, [Mzamane] is gone."
Last week, U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno cleared the way for the suit, which was expected to begin March 29 in Philadelphia, saying Winfrey's statement suggested Mzamame had a role in the alleged mistreatment of the students, which would "clearly blacken plaintiff's reputation or injure her in her profession."
"Plaintiff submits that despite her unblemished record of professional employment, she was unable to obtain a position in the educational field from the time of Winfrey's public comments until August 2008. Furthermore, plaintiff asserts that she suffered personal humiliation and distress as a result of being wrongly associated with the misconduct at OWLAG due to Winfrey's comments," Robreno says.
