Russell Simmons has won the 2018 lawsuit claiming he raped and intimidated a Jane Doe, not by proving his innocence, but on a technicality. According to the The Hollywood Reporter, a judge has ruled that the allegation falls outside the statute of limitations. A Jane Doe filed a $10 million lawsuit in March 2018 alleging sexual battery and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The music producer denied her claims, as he has all of the assault claims against him. Judge Mark H. Epstein of the Los Angeles Superior Court entered judgment in favor of Simmons on the grounds that Jane Doe’s claims were from an alleged incident in 1988 and were therefore past the statue of limitations. Epstein found that she would’ve needed to file her claim in 1990 or, if she argued that Simmons didn’t permanently live in the state at the time, it would need to be filed by 2014. Jane Doe had two weeks to file an opposition to the motion, and when she did not, the judge ruled in Simmons’s favor on November 13.
Earlier this year, eight women came forward with allegations of sexual assault against Simmons, in the HBO Max documentary On the Record. Drew Dixon, Sil Lai Abrams, Sheri Sher, Alexia Norton Jones, Kelly Cutrone, Tina Baker, Keri Claussen Khalighi, and one anonymous woman bravely shared their harrowing experiences in the music industry. In total, the doc refers to 20 different women who have accused Simmons of sexual assault and misconduct.
