'Frugal Gourmet' reaches settlement with seven men over allegations of sexual abuse
SEATTLE -- "Frugal Gourmet" Jeff Smith and his insurers have agreed to pay more than $5 million to seven men who accused the television chef of sexual abuse.
Ed Winskill, Smith's attorney, earlier this week confirmed the settlement, which apparently did not include an apology or admission of wrongdoing, and said Jeff and Patty Smith's personal assets are exempt from collection.
"I won't comment on the settlement except to point out to you that the judgment is not enforceable against any of his property," he told The Oregonian newspaper of Portland, Ore.
Insurance companies holding personal liability policies for the Smiths and their parent corporations, The Frugal Gourmet Inc. and Frugal Gourmet Productions Inc., agreed in June to pay $4.75 million to halt a July 6 civil trial. Smith was accused of sexually assaulting seven men while most were teen-age employees of his from 1973 and 1981. He has denied the accusations.
Smith's dozen cookbooks have sold a reported 12 million copies, and his series, the most popular cooking show in history, once was viewed by an estimated 15 million people a week on 300 public TV stations.
The judgment, filed Aug. 11 in Pierce County Superior Court, does not detail how the settlement was divided among the plaintiffs.
Documents filed in the state Court of Appeals show for the first time that Smith agreed to pay an eighth man $1.5 million in 1991 in exchange for silence about that man's claims of sexual assault. Smith has repeatedly denied that any payments were made.
The man, Clinton Smith, who is no relation to Jeff Smith, said he violated the agreement by talking about where the money came from and later sued when Jeff Smith refused to pay the final $1 million. In return, Smith and Winskill filed for dismissal of the lawsuit.
The transcript of a closed Superior Court hearing on the dismissal shows that Winskill did negotiate the agreement to pay for silence.
F. Mike Shaffer, the Tacoma attorney representing the seven men who sued Smith, said his clients have not yet received the full settlement.
