Adam Sandler wins legal dispute with nanny; she must pay $81,000

Adam Sandler has prevailed in a legal dispute with a nanny who took care of his children and later accused his company of slavery.

Deanne McDonald was hired as a nanny in 2009 by the “Grown Ups” star’s company HP Production, and the next year, the company paid $80,000 to settle employment claims she brought against it, according to an opinion issued this week by a California appeals court in Los Angeles.

Under the confidential 2010 settlement, McDonald agreed not to disclose confidential information or disparage HP, Sandler or Sandler’s brother Scott, and both parties agreed that any future disputes would be handled through binding arbitration, according to the court opinion.

But last year, McDonald apparently changed her mind and wanted to throw out the settlement and sue HP and Scott Sandler, according to the opinion. “After McDonald accused HP and Sandler of criminal activity, slavery and legal malpractice, HP demanded that she cease disclosing confidential information and cease disparaging HP and the Sandlers,” the opinion says.

As a result, an arbitrator told her to give back the $48,000 that HP had paid her under the settlement and to cover HP’s more than $33,000 in attorney fees. McDonald balked, but the appeals court backed the arbitrator.

To Adam Sandler, the money probably isn’t that big a deal. Last year, Forbes named him the most overpaid actor in Hollywood. He’s starring in the action-comedy “Pixels,” due out next May.

Then again, this year’s “Blended” — in which he starred with Drew Barrymore — didn’t do so well at the box office, so a little extra cash may come in handy.

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