Los Angeles (E! Online) - Joe Pesci is in the clear.
The erstwhile goodfella avoided a legal hit this week after a private investigator dropped a big-bucks lawsuit against the actor.
John Perry, a Los Angeles-based private eye, pulled the about-face Monday, a day before a scheduled hearing in which a judge was expected to hear motions from the defense seeking to dismiss the breach-of-contract complaint.
Pescis counsel, Caryn Brottman Sanders, said the 64-year-old Oscar winner was glad his legal headache was over.
[Joes] happy he doesnt have to deal with it anymore, she said. The legal arguments didnt make any sense, and the factual arguments maybe even less so.
Perry filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court Sept. 25. He said he was retained by the My Cousin Vinny star on behalf of his former missus, Claudia Haro, but then reneged on paying a $103,000 bill.
Per court documents, the PI claimed he was hired by Pesci after Haro was accused of hiring a hitman to rub out her previous spouse, a stuntman named Garrett Warren.
Warren was shot four times outside his California residence in May 2000, but amazingly survived. After a police investigation, Haro was arrested in 2005 and is now awaiting trial in Los Angeles County on charges of conspiracy and attempted murder.
Pesci regularly maintained both the innocence of his ex-wife as well as his own noninvolvement in the alleged attempted murder, the suit said.
Pesci, who snagged a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for playing wiseguy Tommy DeVito in GoodFellas, married Haro in 1988 and the couple divorced four years later. They have one child together.
Perry also listed Pesci lawyer Joseph E. diGenova as a defendant, alleging that he verbally promised to cough up the clams if the actor didnt pay. Also named were Pesci pals Mark Giuardino and Jerry Page.
There was no comment from any of the other players, aside from diGenovas lawyer, who called the allegations garbage.
Pesci made headlines last year when Florida prosecutors said they didnt have enough evidence to file charges against him after he allegedly punched a fan who snapped a picture of him without permission.
After an eight-year layoff to pursue his love of music, Pesci returned to the big screen last December after being coaxed to appear in a cameo in The Good Shepherd by old friend Robert De Niro.
