Sean Penn won an opening legal round Tuesday in a multimillion-dollar defamation suit against “Empire” guru Lee Daniels.
Daniels’ lawyers backed down in an attempt to move the case to a federal court. After studying the push-back from Penn’s own lawyers on the matter, “Daniels has agreed to withdraw his Notice of Removal, and to have this matter remanded to the Supreme Court of the State of New York,” a letter from Daniels’ legal team to a federal judge read.
“Further, the parties’ resolution includes Daniels’ payment of a confidential monetary amount to Penn,” the letter added. Sources said that the undisclosed amount was for Penn’s legal fees in this round of the case. A source added legal fees could range from “$650 to $950 per hour.”Penn’s suing over an interview in which Daniels allegedly implied that Penn has a history of hitting women.
Penn’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, commented: “We are pleased, but not surprised, that the defendant agreed to withdraw his petition to move the case because, as we maintained all along, their removal effort was baseless.”
