October 20, 2016
The long-running legal battle is over between feuding former co-anchors Alycia Lane and Larry Mendte.
Back in 2008, Lane sued CBS, her former employer, and Michael Colleran, a former CBS president and general manager, for negligence, for allegedly allowing Mendte to hack into her personal computer.
Mendte was also named as a defendant in the civil suit filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. In the suit, Lane accused Mendte of unlawful interception of communications, invasion of privacy, and tortious interference with prospective contractual relations.
The case was scheduled to go to trial on Friday, until the parties reached a settlement last week. The amount of the settlement is confidential.
“I can’t say anything at this time except that it’s been resolved and everybody has moved on,” John M. Elliott said.
Lane’s lawyer, Paul R. Rosen, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Lane had alleged that Mendte had "illegally accessed her personal email on at least 7,000 different occasions," CBS's lawyers wrote in court papers.
Mendte pleaded guilty in 2008 to one felony count for hacking into Lane's personal email account. He was sentenced to six months of home confinement, three years probation, and community service.
In May, CBS filed a motion to sever Mendte, who was representing himself as his own lawyer, as a defendant in the civil case, arguing that Mendte’s previous guilty plea might prejudice a civil jury against the network.
Mendte opposed the motion, which was never ruled on by the judge. Mendte also argued in court papers that he had nothing to do with Lane’s 2008 firing in Philadelphia, as well as Lane’s 2013 firing from a subsequent anchor gig she had in Los Angeles.
Lane was fired by CBS in Philadelphia after she allegedly punched a police officer in New York City, a charge that was subsequently dropped.
Mendte, who could not be reached for comment, is now a 59-year-old grandfather who hosts three TV shows, including "Jersey Matters," "The Delaware Way," and "Another Thing with Larry Mendte."
Meanwhile, the 44-year-old Lane, who has apparently retired, is "living the good life in Hollywood Hills,” where she’s raising two kids, Mendte told Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson at a court hearing in May.
When her civil case was originally filed back in 2008, Lane's lawyers alleged defamation against CBS, as well as portraying Lane in a false light, among a total of 18 charges.
But during the long court battle, 17 of those charges got tossed by judges in the case. As the case got ready for trial, Lane was down to a single charge of negligent supervision against CBS, for failing to figure out in a more timely fashion that Mendte was hacking into her computer.
On Sept. 21, Judge Massiah-Jackson pared the case further, ruling in favor of a motion in limine filed by Lane to exclude any of the defendants from questioning witnesses or making arguments about “the New York incident,” referring to her altercation with the cop.
