Paris settles $10 million defamation lawsuit

LOS ANGELES - It appears Paris Hilton’s pockets are about to get a whole lot lighter.

Paris has settled her defamation lawsuit with fellow socialite Zeta Graff, according to the Santa Monica County court clerk, although the official paperwork has yet to reach Superior Court.

Lawyers for both parties were in a Santa Monica court this morning, and ended up settling the case.

And while the court calendar indicated jury selection is still scheduled to begin on Monday, that presumably will no longer be needed.

Details of the settlement are unknown at this time.

Graff had filed a $10 million suit against Paris in 2005, claiming Paris fed a slanderous story to the New York Post about Graff attacking her at a club and ripping a necklace off her neck in what was supposedly a jealous rage over Hilton’s fiancée at the time, Paris Latsis.

The article ran in gossip columnist Richard Johnson’s Page Six section on July 2, 2005.

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According to reports, Latsis dated Graff for two years before hooking up with Hilton and having a “Z” tattoo (presumably for Zeta) removed from his wrist.

When Graff saw Hilton and her ex dancing to Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana,” the story in the Post said, she went “berserk.”

The article goes on to report that Graff tried to snatch a $4 million diamond necklace off Hilton’s neck and had to be physically restrained by security guards before she was booted out of the club.

In reaching the settlement, it’s possible Paris saved herself from a perjury charge.

During her deposition, Paris insisted she didn’t know anything about the article in the Post. However, her former publicist, Rob Shutter, went on the record to say that Paris was the one who gave him the information to pass on to the Post.

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