LEGAL SHOCKER
WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT RESOLVED
Jim Carrey tries to move forward after a wrongful death suit’s dismissal.
There are no happy endings to stories like this. But for Jim Carrey, there’s a chance to start afresh now that the wrongful death suit he faced following ex-girlfriend Cathriona White’s 2015 suicide has been dismissed. “I can’t get into the terms of the dismissal,” Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Cathriona’s mother, Brigid Sweetman, and estranged husband, Mark Burton, tells Life & Style. “But everyone’s happy the case has been resolved. We’re satisfied.” (“The case was dismissed,” Jim’s rep tells Life & Style. “We have no further comment.”) Jim, 56, dated Irish makeup artist Cathriona on and off from 2012 until just before her fatal drug overdose — from his prescription medications, according to the coroner — at age 30. Her family insisted Jim gave her the drugs that killed her, which he denied, claiming the suit was part of an attempt to extort him. He was awaiting an April 2018 court date, and an insider recently told Life & Style the suit “has taken a toll on Jim, but he is absolutely refusing to give Cat’s mom or Mark one cent. He believes they are trying to exploit her death for financial gain.” But did that change? Cathriona’s family lawyer made a point of correcting initial reports that Jim had been “cleared” or that the case had been “thrown out,” telling Life & Style it was “voluntarily dismissed,” and adding, “nobody knows how much he paid my clients or if he paid them at all.” Attorney Goldie Schon, who does not represent either side in this case, tells Life & Style that Jim “most likely paid the White family,” explaining that there’s no other logical reason the case would be voluntarily dismissed. By law, the suit can’t be brought again, which means Jim can refocus on his work and on moving forward. At this point, says a source, “Jim just wants to put this all behind him.”