A woman who last year claimed Bob Dylan sexually abused her in 1965 when she was a child abruptly dropped her federal lawsuit Thursday, one day after the singer’s lawyers accused her of destroying evidence in the case.
The woman, who has been identified only as “J.C.,” a now-68-year-old woman from Greenwich, Connecticut, had claimed in a lawsuit that the music legend had “emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged” her by plying her with drugs and alcohol in the Chelsea Hotel over a six-week period. But she never produced any evidence, and rock historians noted Dylan was not in New York during the period in question.
“This case is over. It is outrageous that it was ever brought in the first place,” said Orin Snyder, Dylan’s attorney. “We are pleased that the plaintiff has dropped this lawyer-driven sham and that the case has been dismissed with prejudice.”
An unnamed woman who claimed Bob Dylan sexually abused her as a child in 1965 has withdrawn her lawsuit permanently, a day after Dylan’s attorneys accused her of destroying key evidence and “irretrievably” compromising the integrity of the case. https://t.co/o1sNSiw9QO
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The plaintiff asked U.S. Southern District Judge Katherine Polk Failla Thursday to dismiss it “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. She had been accused of deleting key text messages and emails that she was required to turn over, and her attorneys had been fired from the case.
According to a report by Law360, Failla warned the accuser’s attorneys at a hearing earlier this month that they faced serious sanctions.
Dylan’s legal team had told the judge the accuser had still not produced – and may have destroyed — “dozens of critical emails we know exist” in which the plaintiff was discussing and “casting doubt” about her allegations.
“For the love of god, produce these materials,” Failla told the accuser’s lawyers. “You understand the consequences if you don’t.”
The allegations would have been barred by the statute of limitations, but J.C. filed suit under a recent New York statute that gave past victims a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers.
When historians showed that Dylan was not in New York City for most of April and May 1965, when the alleged abuse occurred, the accuser amended the lawsuit to claim the abuse instead occurred during “several months in the spring of 1965.” Dylan would have been 24 and the victim 12 at the time.