A lawsuit accusing Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler of sexually assaulting a teenage girl decades ago has been dismissed by a federal judge, ruling that the victim waited too long to take her case to court.
Former child model Jeanne Bellino sued Tyler last November, claiming that in 1975, the musician violently assaulted her twice on the day they met in New York City. Bellino's case was filed under a "lookback" statute allowing abuse victims to sue over decades-old claims.
Rolling Stone reports how Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled Wednesday (February 21) that Bellino’s case failed to meet the criteria for New York’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act as the plaintiff did not allege that Tyler's behaviour posed “a serious risk of physical injury” to her.
Tyler's lawyers filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed in early February, according to Bellino's lawyer, Jeff Anderson. However, Anderson says they "failed to serve it on the survivor as required by court rules to allow the Plaintiff to file an opposition", adding that Bellino will "ask the Court to reinstate the lawsuit." [via Rolling Stone]
In the suit, Bellino claimed she was hospitalized and medicated as a result of the incident, and still requires medication "to cope with the sexual assault and has suffered long-term physical injury associated with the trauma" almost five decades later.
In December 2022, Tyler was accused of sexual assault, battery and intentional infliction of distress by Julia Misley, who claimed that she and the musician had an illicit sexual relationship when she was 16 years old. Tyler denied the allegations, claiming their relationship was consensual.