The family of John Ritter is ready to close a chapter on the TV icon's sudden death.
A settlement agreement involving the family's wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital where Ritter died has been reached.
Rory Hernandez, the lawyer for the hospital, Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, said Thursday that the agreement was reached in principle a couple of months ago. The pact will be finalized in court, he said. A procedural hearing was scheduled for Friday.
The attorney's office for Ritter's widow, actress Amy Yasbeck, said Thursday the family had no comment.
According to Hernandez, the Ritter family and the hospital have agreed to keep terms of the deal confidential. Per the Associated Press, Yasbeck was seeking more than $25 million in damages.
Ritter, a perennial rerun favorite for his trip-ups as Jack Tripper on the 1977-84 sitcom, Three's Company, died Sept. 11, 2003--his youngest daughter Stella's fifth birthday.
The star was taken to Providence St. Joe's after falling ill on the set of his latest comedy series, 8 Simple Rules. The TV set and hospital are located across the street from each other in Burbank, California.
Ritter died within hours of being admitted to the medical center. Cause of death was determined to be an aortic dissection, also known as an aortic aneurysm. He was 54, a week shy of his 55th birthday and his and Yasbeck's fourth wedding anniversary.
Yasbeck, 42, filed the wrongful death lawsuit nearly a year later. Also named as plaintiffs were her and Ritter's daughter, and Ritter's three adult children from his first marriage, including son Jason Ritter, the ex-Joan of Arcadia star.
The lawsuit alleged that hospital staff misdiagnosed Ritter and ultimately caused his "untimely death."