A new trial date has been set in the long-running sexual assault lawsuit filed against Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. The case is now scheduled to go to court on May 3 in Los Angeles, with a fifth judge presiding.
The appointment of Lawrence Riff follows a delay in the case caused when the previous judge, Patricia A. Young, unexpectedly stepped down two weeks before opening arguments were scheduled to be heard in September. Young recused herself after disclosing that she had discussed the lawsuit with a second judge who had previously been disqualified from the case.
Riff says that he is willing to reconsider any rulings made by Young, which would include the dismissal in April of charges related to alleged misconduct taking place in Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington because the statute of limitations had passed.
At that time, only charges related to alleged misconduct that took place in California were to be considered, following the state's removal of time limits for historic sexual assault cases in the wake of the Bill Cosby case.
“Both parties here are entitled to have the peace of mind at the end of the case that everything was on the up and up and proper, and that there’s no lingering shadow of doubt of possible impropriety,” says Riff. "There will be more hearings, to say the least, but I don’t think it’s going to unduly prolong the pretrial proceedings."
The lawsuit filed against Tyler was first filed by the plaintiff, Julia Misley, formerly Julia Holcomb, in December 2022. In the lawsuit, Misley accused Tyler of sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and alleged that the singer coerced and persuaded her into believing that their three-year relationship, which began in 1973, when she was 16, was a "romantic love affair".
Tyler has previously asked the court to dismiss the entire lawsuit, arguing that the age of consent in Massachusetts – where the pair resided – was 16, and that Massachusetts law governed them as they travelled to states where the age of consent was older.
Aerosmith returned to the stage with a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl two weeks ago.
