Giffords settle lawsuit with tabloid

<br>BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) _ Kathie Lee Gifford has settled a lawsuit with a supermarket tabloid over a story accusing the former ``Live with Regis and Kathie Lee'' star of turning her 12-year-old

Tuesday, April 2nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) _ Kathie Lee Gifford has settled a lawsuit with a supermarket tabloid over a story accusing the former ``Live with Regis and Kathie Lee'' star of turning her 12-year-old son into a brat.

Court records show Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Timothy McCarthy formally dismissed the case last week.

Gifford and her husband, former Monday Night Football announcer and NFL star Frank Gifford, reached an out-of-court, confidential settlement with the Boca Raton-based tabloid National Examiner about three months ago, said Deborah Drooz, an attorney for the couple.

The Giffords sued for libel in April 2000, alleging the article falsely portrayed their son as ``an impudent, unruly child who is unable to behave in a socially acceptable manner.''

A February 2000 story, headlined ``Kathie Lee Wrecking Cody's Life! Pushy Mom's Creating a Monster,'' said the boy cried at a record store because it had no Britney Spears' albums, spit up partially chewed squid at a restaurant and colored on a pair of pants for sale at an exclusive children's store.

The article said that Kathie Lee Gifford's ``constant coddling'' had the boy behaving like ``a rebel without a clue'' and ``a spoiled brat.''

Lawyers for the Giffords argued in September 2000 that none of the three incidents happened.

Attorneys for The National Examiner, part of the American Media Inc. chain, said the incidents ``depict typical childish behavior on part of a 9-year-old son and are therefore not defamatory.''

The Examiner published a retraction last August, saying ``we regret any distress or embarrassment that Cody may have experienced.''

``We are satisfied with the amicable resolution of this matter,'' AMI spokesman Gerald McKelvey said. He declined to discuss details of the agreement.

Drooz declined to elaborate on the agreement or whether the Giffords were satisfied with the resolution.