Last year, composer Danny Elfman was sued by woman who claimed Elfman allegedly sexually abused her between the years of 1997 and 2002. Pitchfork has reported that this lawsuit has now been dismissed.
Court documents show that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa K. Sepe-Wiesenfield ruled in favor of Elfman and his company Musica de la Muerta, on account of the plaintiff (referred to as Jane Doe XX) allegedly failing to provide evidence of alleged sexual assault and allegedly failing to meet the statute of limitations for multiple allegations.
Initially, the plaintiff claimed that she met the composer when she was 21 and Elfman was 47. She claimed that there were instances between 1997 and 2002 in which Elfman would allegedly walk around naked and allegedly expose himself to her. The lawsuit also proclaimed that Elfman would allegedly occasionally sleep nude in the same bed next to a fully-clothed Doe while she was residing with him in 1998. In addition, Elfman allegedly told Doe in 2002, “Every time you have ever slept next to me, I would masturbate next to you.”
On August 13, in a motion for summary judgment, Elfman’s defense argued, “Plaintiff’s allegation that Elfman undressed in her presence and masturbated while she slept is not, as a matter of law, sexual assault, such that Plaintiff’s claims are fatally defective.” The composer’s team also cited Doe’s allegations as “speculative statements that it is possible she could have been sexually assaulted.” Additionally, they pointed to a number of expired statutes of limitations pertaining to the allegations.
Judge Sepe-Wiesenfield ruled in favor of Elfman on Wednesday, September 4. One of Doe’s attorneys, Jeff Anderson, spoke with Rolling Stone, “We are disappointed but not shocked that the court found that the law does not permit her case to proceed.”
Prior to this case, Elfman was sued by composer Nomi Abadi, under the pretense that Elfman allegedly failed to pay two installments of $42,500 from a $830,000 settlement. The settlement was related to Abadi accusing Elfman of multiple instances of alleged sexual harassment that allegedly occurred in 2016, with a police report being filed the following year. Earlier this year, Abadi sued Elfman again for defamation over statements Elfman made in a 2023 Rolling Stone interview. Abadi accused Elfman of breaching their nondisclosure agreement put in place by their initial settlement.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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