Robert De Niro fought Fire with fire and won.
A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday granted the actor's request to toss a lawsuit filed against him by an insurance company that claimed De Niro intentionally withheld that he had prostate cancer before the insurer signed on to cover one of his films. (View the order.)
Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. insured the production of 2003's Hide and Seek, in which De Niro plays a mentally unraveling widower whose daughter, played by Dakota Fanning, takes solace in an evil imaginary friend.
Fireman's Fund sued the Raging Bull star in October 2006, contending he wrongfully checked off a box indicating he had "never been diagnosed with or treated for" various conditions, including a diseased prostate, when he filled out his medical certificate.
Per the complaint, the company ended up shelling out $1.8 million to cover the cost of production delays incurred when De Niro had to take time out for treatment. (The now 64-year-old actor underwent surgery at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in December 2003 and has long since reportedly been cancer-free.)
In a motion to get the case thrown out, De Niro maintained he underwent a biopsy three days before and received his diagnosis two days after he completed the insurance documentation.
"This ruling vindicates what we've said all along: Mr. De Niro answered Fireman's Fund's questions truthfully and we are pleased that the Court has found that Fireman's Fund can't sue Mr. De Niro for getting cancer," attorney Robyn C. Crowther said in a statement.
Additional court dates concerning the case have been wiped from the docket, according to the judge's minute order.