A judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Vin Diesel accusing him of sexually assaulting his assistant in 2010, saying California law doesn’t apply in Georgia.
Diesel’s assistant, Asta Jonathon, sued Diesel in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2023, accusing him of pushing Diesel against a wall and masturbating while he was in Atlanta filming the fifth Fast and Furious movie, Fast Five.
According to the complaint, Diesel took Jonathon into a hotel suite and forced him onto a bed. She protested and tried to run away, but the man pushed her against a wall, tried to pull down her underwear, and forced her to touch his erect penis, the complaint alleges.
He also claimed that a few hours later, Diesel’s sister called him and said he had been fired. She worked at Diesel for nine days.
Judge Daniel M. Crowley had previously dismissed four of Jonathon’s 10 claims due to statute of limitations. In Wednesday’s ruling, he dismissed the remaining six claims for lack of jurisdiction.
“There is no dispute that the alleged sexual assault occurred in Atlanta, Georgia,” the judge wrote, adding that “this argument fails as a matter of law because California law is presumed to be non-extraterritorial unless the state legislature expressly provides otherwise when adopting the law.”
Jonathon’s entire lawsuit would normally have exceeded the statute of limitations. But in 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Sexual Abuse and Concealment Liability Act, reinstating certain sexual assault cases dating back to 2009.
The judge ruled there was nothing to indicate the law applied outside California.
Jonathon’s lawyer said in a statement that he plans to appeal.
“The court made no determination as to the truth of Ms. Jonathon’s allegations,” they said. “This judgment is based on a legal technicality and we respectfully disagree. Ms. Jonathon intends to appeal.”
Diesel’s lawyer, Brian Friedman, denied the allegations when the lawsuit was first filed, saying there was “clear evidence” to refute them.
“I am grateful that the court has ended this pointless litigation,” Friedman said Wednesday. “We are pleased that this issue has been fully resolved.”
