“The parties express their appreciation to one another for the good faith efforts that led to this resolution,” the lawyers said in a joint statement.
Belafonte sued the civil rights leader’s estate in October in federal court in Manhattan after being blocked from auctioning the documents. The papers are an outline of a Vietnam War speech by King, notes to a speech King never got to deliver in Memphis, Tenn., and a condolence letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson to King’s wife after his 1968 assassination.
Belafonte’s lawsuit said King and his widow, Coretta Scott King, gave Belafonte a number of items. Court papers said Belafonte had held the Vietnam War speech outline since 1967, when King left it behind after working on it in Belafonte’s apartment. It said the Memphis speech notes were found in King’s suit pocket after he was assassinated. According to the lawsuit, Coretta Scott King offered the notes to Belafonte but he suggested they instead be given to one of King’s longest-serving confidants. When that man died in 1979, his widow delivered the notes to Belafonte, it said.
The letter from Johnson was given to Belafonte by Coretta Scott King about a decade ago after she admired the collection of historic documents on a wall of his home, the lawsuit said.
It’s not yet known what Belafonte plans to do with the documents. Sotheby’s Inc. has held them since 2008 pending resolution of the dispute.
“Sotheby’s is very pleased to hear that the parties have reached an agreement and we anticipate returning the documents to Mr. Belafonte,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.