A judge has dismissed the majority of a child sexual assault lawsuit filed against Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler because the statute of limitations has passed.
That ruling applies in Massachusetts, where Tyler and Julia Misley, formerly Julia Holcomb, are supposed to have lived for the majority of their alleged three-year relationship.
However, Misley will still be able to sue over one allegation, that she and Tyler had sex in a hotel and public hot tub during a visit to California in 1974 when she was 16 years old. California removed time limits for sexual assault cases in the wake of historic allegations against Bill Cosby.
In a statement to Billboard, Tyler’s lawyer David Long-Daniels said: “This is a massive win for Steven Tyler. Today, the Court has dismissed with prejudice 99.9% of the claims against Mr. Tyler in this case. The court has decided that only one night, fifty-plus years ago, out of a three year relationship is allowed to remain. We look forward to trying this case on August 31.”
The Independent has approached Tyler and Misley’s representatives for comment.
Misley’s lawsuit quoted from Tyler’s 1997 memoir, in which he wrote that he “almost took a teenage bride” and that her parents “signed a paper over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state. I took her on tour with me”.
Misley claimed that Tyler plied her with drugs and alcohol. She alleged that when she became pregnant with his child at 17, the singer convinced her to have an abortion.
The complaint also alleged that Tyler “coerced and persuaded [Holcomb] into believing this was a ‘romantic love affair’”.
She claimed that after meeting Tyler in 1973 at an Aerosmith concert, the musician “performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct upon” her at a hotel.
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In his memoir, Tyler did not name her but wrote of an unnamed teenage girl: “She was sixteen, she knew how to nasty, and there wasn’t a hair on it.”
He said: “With my bad self being 26 and she barely old enough to drive and sexy as hell, I just fell madly in love with her.
“She was a cute skinny little tomboy dressed up as Little Bo Peep. She was my heart’s desire, my partner in crimes of passion.”
Misley claimed that she did not consent to being mentioned in the acknowledgements of Tyler’s memoir, which instead names a “Julia Halcomb”, one letter off from her then-name Holcomb.
Tyler’s lawyers have claimed that the pair’s relationship was consensual, although Misley’s suit states that she was below California’s age of consent of 18.
