A fraction of a sexual assault case brought against Aerosmith's Steven Tyler is slated to move forward to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, with a tentative August start date. Tyler, 78, has previously denied claims he groomed and sexually assaulted a 16-year-old during the 1970s, who has since publicly identified herself as Julia Misley.
The judge dismissed all claims over the three-year relationship except those pertaining to a one-time visit to California, based on an alleged 1974 incident involving Tyler in a hot tub at a California hotel, according to the judge's order reviewed by the Daily Mail.
"This is a massive win for Steven Tyler," Tyler's attorney David Long-Daniels told the Daily Mail in a statement. "Today, the Court has dismissed with prejudice 99.9% of the claims against Mr. Tyler in this case. The court has decided that only one night, 50-plus years ago, out of a three-year relationship is allowed to remain. We look forward to trying this case on August 31."
A judge on April 28 had previously noted Massachusetts' statute of limitations in dismissing a significant chunk of the case, as that was where the rock singer resided with Misley, then known as Julia Holcomb, in the three-year timeframe they were linked. The relationship moving out of Massachusetts into other states, as Tyler toured the nation with Aerosmith, allowed for a part of the case to remain under California's Child Victims Act.
Misley said in her initial 2022 court filing in Southern California that the "Janie's Got a Gun" singer "used his role, status, and power as a well-known musician and rock star" to take advantage of her sexually, according to legal documents reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. In the civil legal filing, Misley originally accused the "Dream On" singer of sexual assault and battery, as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress, linked back to when she was a teenager in the 1970s.
Misley filed the lawsuit days ahead of a December 31, 2022 deadline to fall under the umbrella of California's Child Victims Act. The legislation paused the statute of limitations for people to report sexual abuse crimes committed against them when they were underage. Misley said in her legal complaint that she and Tyler initially crossed paths at a 1973 Aerosmith concert, when he was around 25 years old and she was 16.
Sources close to Tyler told the Daily Mail that Misley's "memory of what happened on that single night 50-plus years ago is demonstrably inaccurate." They added, "The remaining allegation relates to one night in California, and we look forward to trying that one issue."
The following year, Tyler was granted guardianship of her, and she began traveling with him, Misley said in her court filing. Misley said in a previous complaint that after Tyler persuaded her mother to grant him a guardianship of her at the age of 16, she was "powerless to resist" the singer, who had "power, fame and substantial financial ability." Sources close to Tyler pushed back on that notion to the Daily Mail, saying that "it's been widely established that Steven ... had a consenting, loving relationship for many years" with Misley.
Tyler said in his 2011 book Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? that he nearly "took a teen bride" in his past, according to the court filing. The rock staple said in the memoir, "She was 16, she knew how to nasty … with my bad self being twenty-six and she barely old enough to drive and sexy as hell, I just fell madly in love with her." He wrote that "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."
Misley said in her initial legal filing that she became pregnant by Tyler in 1975, and that he persuaded her to have an abortion based on faulty information regarding the potential health of the unborn child. Following the abortion, Misley said she moved back home, wed, and embraced religion. Misley's lawyer Jeff Anderson told The Los Angeles Times that the looming trial "reflects years of resilience and courage by Ms. Misley, driven by an unwavering pursuit of truth and justice," adding, "It is time for justice and for Tyler to be held accountable by a jury."
