Legal Team Requests Judge To Strike Out Part of Sexual Assault Lawsuit Filed Against Steven Tyler

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Steven Tyler Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage (via Getty Images)
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Last year, news came out that Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler is being sued and had been accused of sexually assaulting a minor; a few months after this news came out, Tyler and his legal team made efforts to dismiss the lawsuit. When it comes to the claims made against him, Tyler has denied these allegations.

Julia Misley (previously known as Julia Holcomb), alleges that Tyler assaulted her when she was a minor. Among her allegations, Misley says she had a relationship with the Aerosmith singer that began when he was 25 and she was 16. She says that Tyler, allegedly, convinced her mother to grant him guardianship over her when she was 16. During this time, Misley alleges that she and Tyler had a sexual relationship.

In her lawsuit against Tyler, Misley says she “was powerless to resist” Tyler’s power, and that the singer “coerced and persuaded Plaintiff into believing this was a ‘romantic love affair.'”

Per a new development in this story, as reported by Rolling Stone, Tyler’s legal team is asking the judge overseeing the case to strike a claim of intentional inflection of emotional distress (“IIED”) “based on statements” the singer has made in his memoirs. Within her lawsuit, Misley shares that she’s experienced emotional anguish due to what the singer has written about regarding their alleged relationship.

Within his 2011 memoir, though Tyler does not mention any specific names, the singer does say he “almost took a teen bride,” as well as “her parents fell in love with me, 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.” He goes on to add that this person “was sixteen, she knew how to nasty, and there wasn’t a hair on it.”

Per this new update, Tyler’s legal team is saying that some parts of Misley’s allegations – those parts regarding what Tyler said in his memoir – make Misley’s lawsuit a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation” (SLAPP). Regarding their motion, Tyler’s lawyers argue the strike is “made upon the grounds that” the plaintiff (Misley) filed a SLAPP because “The conduct complained of arises out of statements made in Tyler’s published memoirs. Such conduct implicates Tyler’s right to free speech.”

Steven Tyler’s legal team believes that the singer’s writing within his memoir should be considered “protected activity,” in the context of being pursued as a SLAPP. Per Tyler’s lawyers, if Misley’s IIED claim is struck down, she will have to “establish, by competent and admissible evidence, a probability of prevailing her claims at trial.” Tyler’s legal team believes she “cannot” do this.

Per the motion filed by Tyler’s legal team: “Here, Tyler’s memoirs regarding his experiences as a world-famous rockstar are indisputably newsworthy as demonstrated by the widespread attention they have garnered.” The motion also says, “Accordingly, the depth of the intrusion is minimal and clearly outweighed by Tyler’s right to recount events from his own life in his memoirs.”

More on this story as it develops.

Anyone affected by sexual assault, whether it happened to you or someone you care about, can find support on the National Sexual Assault Hotline. If you are looking for support, please contact RAINN or call 800.656.HOPE (4673). Remember: you are not alone.

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