Melissa Rivers: Those Responsible for Joan Rivers’s Death ‘Have Accepted Responsibility’

The lawsuit brought by the daughter of Joan Rivers over the late comedian’s death has been settled, Melissa Rivers says.

In a statement Thursday, Melissa Rivers said that she is now “able to put the legal aspects of my mother’s death behind me and ensure that those culpable for her death have accepted responsibility for their actions quickly and without equivocation.”

Rivers added, “Moving forward, my focus will be to ensure that no one ever has to go through what my mother, Cooper and I went through and I will work towards ensuring higher safety standards in out-patient surgical clinics. I want to express my personal gratitude to my legal team for their wise counsel and prompt resolution of this case.”

Rivers filed her lawsuit against Yorkville Endoscopy, where Rivers stopped breathing while undergoing a medical procedure, in January 2015.

The elder Rivers died in September 2014 after undergoing a throat procedure at the clinic. The medical examiner later determined that she had stopped breathing during the procedure and suffered fatal brain damage resulting from a lack of oxygen. She was 81.

Rivers’ death was a “predictable complication of medical therapy,” the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office later determined.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Rivers’ attorneys, Jeffrey Bloom and Ben Rubinowitz of Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman, Mackauf, Bloom & Rubinowitz, said that they are “pleased that the case has been resolved.

“While we know that no amount of money will compensate Melissa Rivers and her son Cooper for their loss, we are pleased that the case has been resolved,” they said. “We worked tirelessly to ensure that appropriate compensation was paid on behalf of those responsible for Joan Rivers‘ death.”