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CHICAGO The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to accept a $3 million settlement after winning a libel lawsuit against a suburban Chicago newspaper and its former columnist, the columnist said yesterday.

Both Tom Shaw, president and chief executive officer of the Kane County Chronicle, and columnist Bill Page apologized to Chief Justice Robert Thomas in a statement released to the Associated Press by Thomas’ attorney.

“The newspaper regrets publishing statements that the jury found to be false and in relying on sources who, based on the jury verdict, provided information that was not true regarding Mr. Thomas’s role in” the case that Page wrote about.

The statement went on to say that “Mr. Thomas, the Chronicle, and Mr. Page have now agreed that the public interest is best served by a spirit of reconciliation and the settling of the dispute.”

But Page was defiant when reached yesterday afternoon.

“That apology runs after my signature,” said Page. “I stand by everything I wrote, and I would repeat it. I’m not backing down from this.”

Kristen Turner, managing editor of the newspaper, declined to comment, referring questions to Shaw Suburban Media Group Inc., which owns the newspaper. Tom Shaw, whose name is on the statement, could not be reached for comment.

Thomas attorney Joseph Power said his client was satisfied with the settlement.

“It’s been a long road,” said Power, who would not disclose the amount of the settlement, though he did not dispute that it was for $3 million as Page said.

“They’ve apologized for what they have done. The case is over.”

The settlement is the latest chapter in a battle that began when Page in 2003 wrote a series of columns about Thomas. In the columns, Page accused Thomas of softening his position in a disciplinary hearing of former Kane County State’s Attorney Meg Gorecki after her supporters backed a judicial candidate he favored.

Thomas, a former Chicago Bears kicker, filed a defamation lawsuit. Page’s columns “went completely over the line and accused me of a crime,” Thomas testified during the trial.

The jury in November ruled in favor of Thomas and ordered the newspaper and the columnist to pay $7 million.

Shaw Suburban Media Group then filed a motion asking that three decisions in the verdict be vacated. In the motion, the publisher said the court acted irresponsibly by assigning the case to a Cook County judge and acting as witnesses for Thomas.

But yesterday, Powers said the newspaper group’s appeal would be dismissed as part of the settlement.

Page said he would not personally pay any money, saying that he was insured.