Disgraced DJ and producer Bassnectar had filed a motion to dismiss the sexual abuse lawsuit filed against him on the grounds that the alleged victims lied about their ages.
Despite Bassnectar‘s best efforts, a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against him in a Tennessee district court in April 2021 will go to trial in February.
The original plaintiffs in the case, Rachel Ramsbottom and Alexis Bowling, allege that Bassnectar (real name Lorin Ashton) knowingly slept with them when they were each 17. A third plaintiff named Jenna Houston, who joined the case a month after its original filing, claims that Ashton slept with her when she was only 16.
In November, Ashton’s team had filed a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the three plaintiffs had deceived him into believing they were old enough to consent. Last week, US District Judge Aleta Trauger partly rejected the motion in a 54-page ruling.
Judge Trauger wrote that “a jury presented with these facts” would be best equipped to make a fair decision regarding most of the claims made in the lawsuit. Two have nonetheless been dropped as a result of the motion — namely that Ashton used force or coercion to traffic the plaintiffs, or that he engaged in commercial sex with Ramsbottom after she turned 18 — owing to insufficient evidence.
“Our clients are very happy that the court agreed with us that this case must be heard by a jury,” reads a statement by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, M. Stewart Ryan. “Rachel, Alexis, and Jenna all look forward to their day in court, yet another step on their journey to justice in this case.”
Ashton’s lawyers also celebrated the decision. His team said, “The judge’s decision to dismiss multiple causes of action is very significant and, as the ruling indicated repeatedly, while the law dictates that other claims are allowed to proceed to trial, the evidence supporting them is extremely thin. This is an important step forward and we look forward to completing Lorin Ashton’s exoneration at trial.”
