A Los Angeles judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee of sexually assaulting a woman in a helicopter in 2003, ruling that her case was filed too late.
The case against Lee, launched last year by an anonymous Jane Doe accuser, was filed under a newly enacted California law that temporarily lifts the statute of limitations for years of sexual assault — one of several such laws passed around the country in recent years years.
But in a ruling issued Monday, Judge Holly J. Fujie ruled that Lee's accuser failed to prove that Lee's alleged assault was followed by any kind of “cover-up” — a key requirement under the provision she cited.
“The court finds that plaintiff has failed to plead evidence sufficient to support a theory of necessary 'concealment,' because plaintiff has failed to plead facts demonstrating defendants' concerted effort to conceal evidence of the sexual assault,” the judge wrote. . “Plaintiff raises vague allegations that the court finds insufficient to support revival of a claim.”
While the ruling is a setback for Lee's accuser, the case is far from over. The judge gave her and her lawyers 20 days to file an updated version of her complaint if she has additional information that would correct the flaws in her case. Her lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment.
In her December complaint, plaintiff Jane Doe alleged that she was “lured under false pretenses” by Lee's personal helicopter pilot to take a ride from San Diego to Los Angeles in February 2003. Once on board, she alleged that Lee and the pilot “consumed many alcoholic beverages, smoked marijuana and snorted cocaine” before the rock star assaulted her.
“Tommy Lee then proceeded to sexually assault the plaintiff by forcefully, fondling, penetrating her with his fingers and attempting to force her to perform oral copulation,” her attorneys wrote. “As a result of Tommy Lee's sexual assault, Plaintiff suffered severe emotional, physical and psychological distress.”
The case, about an incident that allegedly happened more than two decades ago, was filed under the Sexual Abuse and Liability Cover-Up Act — a California law that created a three-year window starting last year for alleged survivors to file sexual abuse lawsuits . would normally be barred by the statute of limitations.
The case against Lee was one of several filed during “lookback windows” created by similar legislation, including New York's Adult Survivors Act. Just before that law expired in November, a flood of years-old abuse cases hit the courts, most notably against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
But such laws have strict requirements. In the case of the Sexual Abuse Accountability and Cover-Up Act, an alleged victim must prove that the defendant “engaged in a cover-up or attempted to cover up,” that is, a “concerted effort to conceal evidence related to sexual assault or other misconduct” or conduct which “induces individuals to remain silent.”
In her complaint, Lee's accuser alleged that the drummer and other defendants “engaged in a concerted effort to prevent the release or disclosure of information or evidence of such sexual assaults to anyone.” But in her ruling Monday, Judge Fujie said the mere wording of the statute's requirement was not enough.
“These allegations are determinative in nature and do not allege specific actions directed at plaintiff,” the judge wrote. “Plaintiff's cause of action, as he claims, is therefore effectively time-barred.”
In a statement to Advertising sign, Lee's attorney, Sasha Fried, said: “We applaud the court's decision. The court succeeded in finding that the plaintiff cannot assert a claim against Tommy Lee. From the beginning, Mr. Lee has categorically denied these false and spurious accusations.”
