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Full of Grace: Nancy Grace Suicide Suit Settles

By Tanya Roth, Esq. on November 09, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Nancy Grace has settled with the estate of former interviewee Melinda Duckett. The wrongful death suit was set to go to trial, after many delays, next month, but the parties have instead reached a settlement which seems to be very much in Grace's favor. The terms of the settlement, which include a payment of $200,000 into a trust fund, were filed in federal court November 5 in Ocala, Florida.

In 2006 Nancy Grace, host of the "Nancy Grace Show," interviewed Melinda Duckett, a 21-year-old mother whose son, Trenton, had disappeared. The day after the interview, Duckett committed suicide. In December of 2006, the family of Melinda Duckett filed their wrongful death suit against Grace and CNN saying that the harsh interview contributed to Duckett's death.

The settlement reached by Duckett's family and Grace's representatives includes a very conciliatory statement by Duckett's family, reports Ocala.com. "We are pleased the lawsuit has been dismissed," a spokeswoman for CNN said Monday.

CNN has agreed to make the $200,000 payment to establish the Trenton John Duckett Irrevocable Trust. A trust holds money from a donor for use by a beneficiary. An irrevocable trust is one where the donor of the trust money may not change, end, or remove money from the trust once it is in place. The Trenton Duckett Trust will dedicate its money to finding the still-missing child. If he is not found alive by age 13, or is found after his death, the money will go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Despite an agreement between the parties to the suit, there is little closure for family of the missing child, nor for Nancy Eubank, Melinda Duckett's grandmother, writes Ocala.com. "I wish that Nancy Grace would be taken off the air, totally and completely, because she just destroys people," said Eubank.

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