Suit against former casino owner settled

Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

A woman who said she was abducted and gang-raped while employed on the luxury yacht M/V Primadonna dropped her lawsuit against its owner on Friday after reaching a settlement for an undisclosed sum.

The defendants in the case are the Gary E. Primm Family Trust and Gary Primm, chairman and chief executive of Primadonna Resorts Inc. until it was sold in 1999 to MGM Grand Inc. -- now known as MGM MIRAGE. Primadonna Resorts owned the three casino hotels in Primm, on the California border.

Attorneys for both parties declined comment on the settlement.

In a federal lawsuit filed under the pseudonymn Jane Doe in July 1999, the woman, who was working as a chef, said that in February 1999 she was abducted near the yacht while in port at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and driven by three unknown assailants to a remote desert location, where she said she was raped and battered.

She said she was abandoned at an airport in Mexico in late February without money and assistance, medical care or treatment.

But the defendants denied responsibility for her injuries because she was allegedly raped while allegedly night-club hopping outside the vessel. And Gary Primm has denied he owned the yacht.