Forget “Jaywalking” — Jay Leno is driving away from a lawsuit in a $1 million vintage car.
The “Tonight Show” host has quietly settled a big-bucks lawsuit that accused him of turning a blind eye to shady shenanigans so he could get his hands on a one-of-a-kind 1931 Duesenberg Model J that had belonged to Macy’s heir John Straus.
The suit, filed by Straus’ family, claimed Leno got the car — which he’d been eyeing for years before an East Side garage seized it — in a “sham” auction.
The terms of the settlement involving Straus’ family, Leno and the Windsor Garage are confidential, but a source said the family got some money, but not from Leno, who keeps the car.
Leno lawyers Ronald Berg and Bruce Bronster said only their client was “happy with the outcome.”
The suit said Straus — a grandson of Macy’s co-founders and Titanic victims Isador and Ida Straus — was 85 and suffering from dementia in 2005 when the garage warned him it would auction off his Duesenberg and 1930 Rolls-Royce unless he paid his $22,000 parking bill. Straus paid, but the classic car was auctioned off, with Leno nabbing it for $180,000
Leno maintained that he had paid a fair price because the car was in terrible condition.