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TechVenture Capital

Ellen Pao won’t have to pay Kleiner Perkins after all

By
Dan Primack
Dan Primack
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By
Dan Primack
Dan Primack
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September 23, 2015, 12:29 PM ET
Ellen Pao speaks to the media after losing in her high profile gender discrimination lawsuit against venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers in San Francisco
Ellen Pao speaks to the media after losing in her high profile gender discrimination lawsuit against venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers in San Francisco, California March 27, 2015. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach - RTR4V7TEPhotograph by Beck Diefenbach — Reuters

Earlier this month, Ellen Pao said that she would drop her appeal of a jury verdict that denied her claims of gender discrimination and retaliation against former employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, essentially saying the legal process was tilted toward the defendant and too expensive to continue.

“I am now moving on, paying Kleiner Perkins’ legal costs and dropping my appeal,” Pao wrote at the time.

But Pao won’t actually be paying those legal costs, which totaled more than $275,966 and carried 10% in annual interest (per court order).

Pao formally dropped her appeal last Thursday and, according to a court document filed one day later, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins “accepted payment or performance other than that specified in the judgment in full satisfaction of the judgment.”

Capture

Or, put another way, Kleiner Perkins did not insist being repaid the nearly $276,000 — keeping to an earlier pledge to absorb the fees were Pao to drop her appeal.

Multiple sources tell Fortune that the two sides worked out final details late last week (there were some other terms to be ironed out) but neither Pao nor Kleiner Perkins would comment on the matter.

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