Sexual assault lawsuit against Danny Elfman is dismissed
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A sexual assault lawsuit filed against the composer Danny Elfman has been dismissed by a judge at a Los Angeles court.
The legal action against Elfman began in October of 2023. A lawsuit was filed anonymously by Jane Doe, alleging that the musician and composer frequently exposed himself to her. She also claimed that he told her that he masturbated next to her while she was asleep and couldn’t consent to the act. She said that the alleged abuse took place between 1997 to 2002. At the time, she was in her early 20s, while Elfman was in his late 40s. When these allegations were raised against the composer, his representative denied them.
During that time frame, Elfman’s career was going from strength to strength. In the 1980s, he established a strong working relationship with Tim Burton that has endured for decades. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he worked with the director on projects like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands and more. He also contributed to major motion picture scores for Mission: Impossible, Good Will Hunting, Spider-Man and more.
On Wednesday, September 4th, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa K. Sepe-Wiesenfeld dismissed the case. She ruled that Jane Doe “shall take nothing from this action.” This was down to the plaintiff’s claims that she was often asleep when the alleged assaults took place, as reported by Rolling Stone.
The judge also ruled that Jane Doe provided “only speculative statements that it is possible she could have been sexually assaulted”. Another crux to the claim is simply that many of the complaints are too old to pursue.
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.” However, Jane Doe’s lawyer has said that she stands by her initial claim.
This lawsuit only months after composer Nomi Abadi also accused Elfman of exposing himself. She claimed that the composter also harassed her in 2017. The two musicians reached a settlement and non-disclosure agreement of $830,000 (£645,000). However, in July 2023, Abadi filed another lawsuit as she claimed that Elfman breached their agreement by missing some payments.
She then sued Elfman over statements he made to Rolling Stone in a lawsuit that read, “Defendant Elfman lied about Nomi, branding her as a scorned woman attempting to break up his marriage, and as someone who initiated nude photography.” It continued, “As a result of Elfman and his representatives’ defamations, Nomi has suffered humiliation, both personally and professionally, within their shared composing industry, and online, and harm to her professional reputation and her occupation as a composer, musician, and educator.”
Elfman still faces both these lawsuits from Abadi.
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