Tommy Lee wins helicopter sexual assault lawsuit

A California judge dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit against Tommy Lee on Monday, but the lawsuit is ongoing. The judge said the Jane Doe plaintiff now has 20 days to try again with an amended complaint, which will only survive if it contains new alleged facts showing that there was a “concerted effort” to produce evidence conceal that the Mötley Crüe drummer sexually abused her in a helicopter cockpit in 2003.

The judge sided with Lee after the rocker’s attorney argued that the decades-old claims were not eligible for revival under the law that plaintiff Jane Doe used when she filed her original lawsuit last December. The law, known as the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, requires plaintiffs to prove that some type of “legal entity” made a cooperative effort to conceal evidence of their alleged sexual assault. (The one-year “look-back window” for making claims under the Act ended December 31, 2023.)

In his comments to the court, Lee’s attorney argued that Jane Doe wrote in her initial complaint that Lee was already famous for his “lewd and hedonistic behavior” at the time of the alleged helicopter attack. “That would eliminate any possibility of a cover-up. “You can’t gloss over it when the plaintiff claims that this alleged “lewd” behavior was known to everyone,” said Lee’s attorney, A. Sasha Frid.

“The court had its own questions about this,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Holly J. Fujie responded. “However, this is officially our first look at the brief and we will almost always allow an opportunity to amend.”

In her written ruling, the judge said that the Jane Doe “failed to allege facts supporting the ‘cover-up’ claim.” She also questioned whether the plaintiff will be able to provide the necessary evidence to support it to establish that a legal entity covered up Lee’s actions in 2003. Lee claims his company, Mayhem Touring Inc., was suspended in February 2002. The plaintiff, meanwhile, claims that Mayhem was merely in default, not suspended, so it was still an operational entity at the time of the underlying events.

Judge Fujie’s ruling temporarily dismissed all four causes of action in the lawsuit – sexual assault, gender-based violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence – pending the filing of a new complaint. She ruled that if a future amended complaint “does not correct the deficiencies it sets forth,” the court “will consider maintaining a demurrer without leave to amend.”

“We welcome the court’s decision. The court was correct in finding that the plaintiff could not assert a claim against Tommy Lee. From the beginning, Mr. Lee has vehemently denied these false and false allegations,” Frid said in a statement Rolling Stone On Monday.

In her lawsuit, the Jane Doe plaintiff claims she was lured into a helicopter in 2003 by pilot David Martz under the pretense that she was on a “sightseeing trip.” She says Martz surprised her by picking up Lee too. She claims that during a 40-minute trip from San Diego County to Van Nuys, California, Lee began assaulting her, forcibly kissing and groping her in the tiny helicopter.

“At one point, Lee penetrated the plaintiff with his fingers while caressing her breasts. Lee then pulled down his pants and attempted to push plaintiff’s head toward his genitals. At that point, the plaintiff burst into tears, but she had nowhere to go – she was trapped and had little mobility to exit the cockpit,” the lawsuit states. The woman claims Martz “just observed” the alleged attack and said nothing to her as they flew back to San Diego after dropping Lee off in Van Nuys.

The plaintiff says she had no contact with Martz for several years, but spoke to him briefly on the phone in June 2009 when he called to chat. (Martz died in a Cessna accident in August 2015.)

The woman says the alleged attack caused her “great shock, distress, humiliation, shame and guilt” and that she did not report it because she believed it was an isolated incident and the police would not take her seriously. She now believes that Martz and Lee “have a history of engaging in lewd and illegal conduct on Martz’s helicopter,” her lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Neville Johnson, Douglas Johnson and Melissa Eubanks, named Mayhem Touring, Tommy Lee Inc., A Natural High Helicopters and Social Helicopters as defendants. (Jane Doe later dismissed A Natural High Helicopters as a defendant.)

In a filing last month, Doe’s attorneys said they believe Lee was acting in a professional capacity on the day of the alleged assault and that “well-known entertainment industry standards” dictate that he operate under a professional company such as Mayhem Touring or “Mayhem Touring.” would have been. “Another loan company” back then. The lawyers wrote that they could clarify this in an amended pleading. The attorney who represented the plaintiff at Monday’s hearing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.