Sean Connery Par for the Course

Actor settles up with the L.A.-area country club he sued last year for supposedly using his name for promotional purposes without properly compensating him for his membership

By Natalie Finn Nov 03, 2007 2:36 AMTags

Sean Connery opted to avoid the rough and go straight for the green.

The Scottish actor has reached an undisclosed settlement with the Los Angeles-area country club he sued last year for breach-of-contract for allegedly trading on his good name without properly reimbursing him for his très expensive membership, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Connery originally wanted $1 million from the Sherwood Country Club, which, according to his lawsuit, wooed him to join in April 1990 as a way of promoting both its own business and the surrounding suburb in Thousand Oaks.

Per the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in March 2006, Sherwood sold Connery a membership for $35,000 and promised him that he would receive equity of 80 percent—based on the going rate for the membership—after three years.

According to the original 007, when he quit the club in 2004 Sherwood refused to honor its financial obligations and then continued to use Connery's "worldwide celebrity to enhance the club's reputation."

Documents filed on behalf of Sherwood state that the club disputed what Connery's estimate of what his membership was worth and denied using his name for company gain.

Interestingly, Connery's attorney, Daniel Miller, said that the presiding judge may have actually been a little disappointed to learn that the case had settled ahead of a hearing scheduled for next week, considering Connery and golfing buddies Craig T. Nelson and Joe Pesci had been called to testify.

"Courts usually like settlements, but when we called to tell them about this settlement they said Connery is one person they would have liked to have seen," Miller said.

The 77-year-old Oscar winner, who announced his retirement from showbiz in 2005, was last seen on the big screen in 2003's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He declined an offer to reprise his role as the title adventurer's father in the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, saying in June that "retirement is just too damned much fun."