Paris Hilton set for September court date

[MaryJane]

Socialite PARIS HILTON is set to spend September (06) in court when she answers charges of slandering Greek actress ZETA GRAFF.

The hotel heiress, 25, stands accused of spreading "vicious lies" about 34-year-old Graff - who dated Greek shipping heir PARIS LATSIS before Hilton.

Hilton dated Latsis for 10 months, but called off their engagement in October (05), only days before she was spotted with current beau, STAVROS NIARCHOS. Graff filed suit against Hilton last year (05), claiming THE SIMPLE LIFE reality star fabricated a fight with Graff in a London nightclub.

Graff's case was strengthened during a reposition in December, when Hilton's former publicist ROB SHUTER admitted he had planted a news item with the New York Post's gossip column on Hilton's request.

Diamond heiress Graff claims Hilton threatened her at the nightclub, saying, "I'm going to destroy you," after club bosses refused the socialite's request to throw Graff out of the nightspot.

Graff's attorney PAUL BERRA says there is still a chance the $10 million (GBP6 million) case may never go to trial, if the rivals can settle out of court.

Confident Graff claims she will win if the case goes to trial, saying, "Hilton will learn a valuable lesson about what happens when you try to ruin another person's reputation. I look forward to her explaining all of this to the jury."

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