Connery swings golf club claim

Published on Sunday 4 November 2007 00:14

IN HIS most famous role he crossed swords with a host of foes, including Auric Goldfinger and Ernst Blofeld, but Sir Sean Connery has ended a real-life feud with an altogether more mundane adversary: a celebrity golf club.

Last year the Bond star launched a legal action against the Sherwood Country Club, based in the outskirts of Los Angeles, claiming that the owners of the exclusive venue had ripped him off. Connery claimed the club, which he joined in 1990, cashed in on his name and failed to pay him for the privilege.

The case was due to come to court on Tuesday but the star's lawyer has confirmed that a settlement has now been reached.

Connery's celebrity golfing buddies Joe Pesci and Craig T Nelson had been expected to testify in the case.

"Courts usually like settlements," said Connery's attorney Daniel S Miller.

"But when we called to tell them about this settlement they said Connery was one person they would have liked to have seen."

The 77-year-old actor, who has an estimated fortune of 95m, claimed in court papers that he joined Sherwood Country Club on a discounted rate of 20,000 a year. He says the club's owners gave him the deal on the understanding that they would then be free to use his name and celebrity status to attract new members.

Connery had claimed the club agreed to give him back 80% of the full membership rate if and when he decided to leave, which he did in 2004. With a total current membership fee of 287,000, he believes he was owed 230,000.

But he insisted he had not seen a penny. His lawyers claimed the club was "well aware of his status as an internationally renowned celebrity and famously avid golfer".

They say making him a member "enhanced the club's reputation and the stature and value of the club and surround properties and facilities, and would greatly benefit the club's various businesses".

His lawyers continued: "Since 1990 the club has made repeated and substantial promotional uses of the fact of Connery's affiliation with the country club, using his world-wide celebrity to enhance the club's reputation."

Connery was suing the club for a total of 570,000 for breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

The 1,900-acre club includes an 18-hole golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, tennis courts, a swimming pool, a health spa and two Georgian-style club houses.