Clarification: Nicholas Sparks-Lawsuit story

FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2016, file photo, novelist Nicholas Sparks attends a special screening in Los Angeles. The trial is getting underway, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, in a lawsuit that accuses Sparks of defaming the former headmaster of a private Christian school he founded in North Carolina. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — In a story Aug. 21 about a lawsuit against novelist Nicholas Sparks by the former headmaster of the school the author founded, The Associated Press, citing testimony from Sparks, reported that former headmaster Saul Hillel Benjamin accepted severance of $150,000 to resign. While a lawyer for Sparks told jurors that Benjamin agreed to the offer, Benjamin's law firm said he didn't accept or receive the payment.