The producers of the “Rosie O’Donnell Show” have settled a lawsuit brought by an elderly widow who was hurt in a freak Koosh Ball accident.
Lucille DeBellis, 72, quietly withdrew her negligence suit against the show and its producers in April after reaching an out-of-court deal for money damages in the 2001 incident.
“The matter was settled to the satisfaction of my client,” said the plaintiff’s lawyer, William Dealey.
Terms were not revealed, but the amount of the settlement is believed to be far less than $3 million DeBellis was seeking.
The lawyer for the show’s producers didn’t return a call for comment.
DeBellis was sitting in the studio audience for the Nov. 29, 2001, show when, during a warm-up bit, she was “suddenly and without warning struck in the face with a hard object.”
It was found that object was a Koosh Ball – a soft, spiky ball O’Donnell often tossed into the audience.
DeBellis stayed to watch the taping while in “extreme discomfort,” the suit says, and developed “small lumps in her mouth and lips,” which didn’t go away for “several months.”