Film director Roman Polanski has won a libel judgment against the American magazine Vanity Fair, which published a claim that Polanski tried to seduce a woman on the way to his wife's funeral 36 years ago.
A British court ordered Vanity Fair's owners Friday to pay nearly $90,000 in damages and Polanski's legal costs, which will amount to a much larger sum. The magazine's lawyers contended the story was basically accurate, although they admitted the alleged seduction incident did not occur just before the funeral of Polanski's murdered wife, actress Sharon Tate.
Vanity Fair presented supporting testimony from several witnesses, but the woman involved in the alleged seduction did not appear in court. The 71-year-old film director was allowed to testify by video from his native France, to avoid possible extradition from Britain to the United States where he is wanted on child sex charges.
Some information for this report provided by AP.