Sean Connery settles suit with golf club

LOS ANGELES - His name is Connery. Sean Connery. And it's a name no longer associated with the Sherwood Country Club.

The movies' original James Bond settled his lawsuit against the club for an undisclosed sum, according to papers filed in Superior Court on Tuesday.

The settlement put an end to a hearing scheduled for next week at which Connery and his golfing buddies Craig T. Nelson and Joe Pesci were expected to testify.

"Courts usually like settlements, but when we called to tell them about this settlement, they said Connery is one person they would have liked to have seen," the actor's attorney, Daniel S. Miller, said.

A message left for country club officials Friday night was not immediately returned.

Connery sued in May 2006, charging the club with failing to pay him the equity his membership earned in promoting related real estate deals.

According to the suit, Connery bought a membership in the club for $35,000 in 1990 with the understanding that the club would use his name to promote the sale of luxury properties surrounding its golf course and that he could retrieve the equity at 80 percent after three years