Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against Danny Elfman Dismissed
Last year, an anonymous woman sued Danny Elfman, the veteran film-score composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman, for sexual assault, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sexual harassment, and negligence. The Maryland woman, who appeared in court documents as Jane Doe, claimed that Elfman sexually abused her from 1997 to 2002, when she was in her early twenties and he in his late forties. Now, a Los Angeles judge has granted Elfman’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Rolling Stone reports that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa K. Sepe-Wiesenfeld dismissed the lawsuit against Danny Elfman on Wednesday, ruling that the Jane Doe “shall take nothing from this action.” Because the plaintiff claimed that she was often asleep at the time of the assaults Judge Sepe-Wiesenfeld ruled that she provided “only speculative statements that it is possible she could have been sexually assaulted.” She also ruled that many of the Jane Doe’s complaints are too old to pursue.
According to the Jane Doe’s lawyer, she stands by her claims. In a statement, Elfman’s lawyer says, “The Court’s dismissal of this case confirms what we have said all along — that these claims are meritless.” The Jane Doe made her claim against Elfman after another woman, Los Angeles composer Nomi Abadi, sued Elfman for failing to pay several installments in a sexual harassment settlement that totals $$830,000. In a statement, Elfman denied Abadi’s allegations, so she sued him again for defamation. Elfman still faces both lawsuits.
Elfman scored his longtime collaborator Tim Burton’s new film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which arrives in theaters today.