Two Suits Against Chef Pending One Sex Abuse Case Against Frugal Gourmet Dropped
One sexual abuse lawsuit against Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet of public television, has been dismissed, while two suits involving eight plaintiffs remain pending.
The suit filed by Clinton Smith, no relation, whose actions were instrumental in the filing of the other cases, was dismissed for unstated reasons Friday in Pierce County Superior Court.
Tom Burke, Clinton Smith’s lawyer, said Tuesday he would appeal.
The other two suits have been consolidated for trial April 28 before Judge Frederick W. Fleming.
Edward S. Winskill, Jeff Smith’s lawyer, has denied all accusations in the lawsuits and in public statements by the plaintiffs.
Jeff Smith, 59, a Methodist minister who is married and has two grown sons, is host of the most popular cooking show in history. At one time he appeared on 300 public television stations and was watched by as many as 15 million viewers.
Smith was under contract for two books, one featuring pasta and the other with low-calorie recipies, which would have been the basis for more TV shows before the cases were filed last year. Neither book has appeared, nor has he recorded any more shows.
Clinton Smith, 37, of Eatonville, Wash., claimed that when he was 16, Jeff Smith, now 59, coerced him into having sex and participating in “sexually oriented parties with other adult pedophiles and other minor boys.”
Clinton Smith also asserted that Jeff Smith agreed in 1991 to pay him $1 million to keep silent about his accusations but paid only $300,000, withholding the rest after hearing that someone else was told of the deal.
The suit was dismissed after Clinton Smith requested a ruling on the supposed settlement, which Winskill has denied ever existed.
Clinton Smith was sentenced to four years in prison in 1981, partly for stealing money from the Chaplain’s Pantry, a business Jeff Smith owned in Tacoma when the show was in its salad days. He said he took the money in retaliation for being sexually assaulted.