A woman who accused Arnold Schwarzenegger of groping her has dropped her defamation case against the California governor and a campaign aide to avoid paying $100,000 or more in legal fees.
Rhonda Miller wanted to appeal a judge's dismissal of her case. But her attorney, Paul Hoffman, said Thursday that she settled for a guarantee from Schwarzenegger that she will not have to pay the governor's legal costs.
A day before last year's recall election, pitting Schwarzenegger against then-Gov. Gray Davis, Miller, a former stuntwoman, publicly alleged that Schwarzenegger groped her on movie sets while he filmed "Terminator 2" and "True Lies."
Schwarzenegger's campaign denied the allegations, and his campaign aide Sean Walsh suggested in e-mails to reporters that Miller had a record of prostitution, theft and drug-related crimes.
The records were for a different woman of the same name, and Miller sued, alleging she had been defamed.
The suit was dismissed in July when the judge ruled there was not enough evidence Walsh deliberately misled reporters or that Schwarzenegger knew about Walsh's e-mail. With the dismissal, Miller could have been forced to pay Schwarzenegger's legal costs estimated at more than $100,000.
