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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Shonda Rhimes and a physician who sued her after he tripped and fell on a cracked surface outside the television producer and screenwriter's Hancock Park home in 2017 have reached a settlement in the case.
The plaintiff, Dr. Kuo Chao, is an interventional radiologist at Kaiser Permanente Hospital. He maintained in his Los Angeles Superior Court suit filed in August 2018 that he was jogging past the ``Grey's Anatomy'' and ``Scandal'' creator's residence on June 30, 2017, when he tumbled on the damaged sidewalk.
The negligence/premises liability suit maintained that Rhimes was partially responsible for Chao's injuries, which he described as a broken left wrist and damaged cartilage. Chao, who also lives in Hancock Park, said he additionally lost range of motion and function in his wrist and arm.
The 53-year-old Chao's recovery took months, preventing him from resuming his career treating stroke and aneurysm patients, the suit stated.
Rhimes' lawyers filed a notice of settlement on Dec. 23 with Judge Audra Mori. No terms were divulged.
The damage to the sidewalk was caused when a prior owner of Rhimes' home improperly patched the sidewalk in violation of city requirements after installing an underground drainage pipe from the property to the curb, the suit states. The pipe only serves Rhimes' property and she was legally responsible to maintain and repair the sidewalk, the suit alleged.
``But because she failed in her duty to safely maintain the altered sidewalk, Dr. Chao injured his wrist,'' the suit stated.
In their court papers lawyers for Rhimes denied any wrongdoing on her part and stated that the sidewalk belongs to the city of Los Angeles.
``In truth, Ms. Rhimes had no involvement in creating the sidewalk defect at issue, and thus no duty to prevent personal injury to (Chao)...,'' Rhimes' lawyers stated in their court papers.
In 2007 and 2021, Rhimes, 52, was named on Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.