Tattle: Sugarland settles bitter feud with founding member

J

ENNIFER NETTLES

and

Kristian Bush

, the two remaining members of the popular country duo

Sugarland

, avoided a nasty (and costly) public trial with founding member

Kristen Hall

, settling a lawsuit over claims that she was owed an estimated $14 million even though she quit the group five years ago.

Sugarland, which last week was named the Country Music Association's vocal duo of the year, was set to go to trial today with Hall over claims that she was owed one-third of the band's profits.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten signed a court order Friday saying that the parties reached a settlement.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, darn it.

Hall, who founded the band in 2002, sued Nettles and Bush in 2008, claiming that she laid the foundation and set the stage for the group's success by acting as its manager, marketing officer and tour organizer in its early years. The suit said that she used her personal credit cards to pay for the band's expenses, and that she "collaborated generously" on the debut album, which sold millions of copies.

Nettles and Bush countered in court documents that Hall never reached a profit-sharing agreement with them when she quit. They said that they were left to repay almost $100,000 in debts after Hall left, and that she had "no expectation that the parties would ever work together again."

Tattle nuptials

If this leads to another reality TV show, we're going to be very upset, but Jessica Simpson is engaged to NFL football player Eric Johnson.

Johnson doesn't actually have a team at the moment, but the wide receiver is also a Yale grad, begging the question: What do they talk about all day?

* Meanwhile, Us Weekly reports that Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick tied the knot with "Survivor" Stephenie LaGrossa (a co-owner of Gigi, 319 Market St.) Saturday in Napa, Calif. She wore Priscilla of Boston. He wore Hugo Boss. Among the appetizers were mini Philly cheesesteaks.

Tattbits

* Sally Field was honored Friday at the Birmingham Community Charter High School, in the San Fernando Valley community of Lake Balboa. Students and faculty gathered at the school's performing-arts center, originally built in 1976, to dedicate the auditorium in Field's name.

"I want to say how lucky you are that this beautiful theater exists for you," Field told students on stage during a ceremony before the unveiling of the theater's new sign. "Use it. Explore not only the world of language, the spoken word and that of storytelling - because that's what we do up here on this stage, we tell stories - but use it to explore you."

Field graduated from the school in 1964 before starring in "Gidget" on television and later winning Academy Awards for her roles in the films "Norma Rae" and "Places in the Heart." She said that the school's drama department "quite simply saved my life" and was the place that she could "most truly and absolutely be me, where I lost myself and found me."

"I didn't feel like [I] fit in at all," she recalled of her high-school tenure.

* Ne-Yo is a daddy-yo.

His girlfriend, Monyetta Shaw, gave birth to the couple's first child, Madilyn Grace, on Friday night in Atlanta.

Madilyn arrived two months early but seems to be doing well.

Ne-Yo recently told People magazine: "I'm so excited and nervous. It's amazing - I'm bringing another life into the world. But at the same time, I'm like, 'Oh crap, I'm responsible for another human being.'

"I don't even buy my own underwear, where am I going to find [hers]? But I'm so looking forward to it."

You know, there's a lot more to parenting than buying underwear.

* Maggie Gyllenhaal, currently in Luxembourg shooting the near-and-dear to Tattle's heart Victorian romantic comedy "Hysteria," will return to the States to star with her husband, Peter Sarsgaard, in an off-Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters."

The Classic Stage Company says that the couple will appear alongside Jessica Hecht and Josh Hamilton. Austin Pendleton will direct. Previews begin Jan. 12, and the show will run until Feb. 20.

* More than 40 broomstick-riding teams competed this weekend in the two-day Quidditch world-cup tournament in New York City.

Since none of the teams had Harry Potter's ability to fly, the game was adapted for "muggles" - humans without magical powers . . . or lives.

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

E-mail gensleh@phillynews.com