Alycia Lane, CBS3 finally settle lawsuit over email snooping

After nearly eight years of litigation, former CBS3 anchor Alycia Lane's lawsuit against the network and her former co-anchor has been settled out of court.

The case had been scheduled to go to court on Friday.

Lane charged the network with negligence after her former co-anchor, Larry Mendte, hacked into her email and fed her personal details and photos to gossip columnists.

A spokesman for the First Judicial District issued a statement Friday saying: "As of yesterday, the court has been advised that the parties in this matter are working on finalizing a settlement, and the judge is awaiting a final status report from counsel. The terms of the settlement are confidential."

"The matter's been resolved," said Joanne Calabria, spokeswoman for CBS3 in Philadelphia. She said she could not comment beyond that.

Reached online Thursday evening, Lane said she could not comment and referred questions to her attorney, Paul R. Rosen. Rosen on Friday declined comment.

Mendte and Lane shared co-anchor duties at CBS3 for the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts until December 2007, when Lane was arrested after allegedly hitting a woman who turned out to be an undercover New York police officer whose car was blocking a cab occupied by Lane and some friends. CBS3 fired Lane in January 2008. The charges were dismissed and the case was expunged.

Mendte was fired by CBS3 in June of that year, after FBI agents searched his Chestnut Hill home and computer files, and eventually charged him with hacking Lane's emails.

Lane filed suit in 2008 alleging that CBS failed to stop Mendte from snooping on her — an offense for which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to house arrest and probation. Mendte was also named in the civil suit for invasion of privacy and other alleged violations.

The case effectively ruined the career of Mendte, who at the time was believed to be the second-highest-paid male anchor in Philadelphia after Jim Gardner. Lane went on to become a morning anchor on the NBC station in Los Angeles, where she now lives with her husband and two children. The station let her go in 2013.

Mendte, who is married to 1210 WPHT newscaster Dawn Stensland, has said the acts followed the end of a "flirtatious, unprofessional, and improper relationship" with Lane.  He now hosts local talk shows on iHeartMedia radio stations in Delaware.

Staff writer Howard Gensler contributed to this report.