Four claims in Vin Diesel sex abuse suit dropped, but numerous allegations remain

The court tossed four employment discrimination claims against Diesel, but not allegations of sexual battery and wrongful termination.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  June 3, 2025 | 8:19pm
Photo by Paolo Pedicelli (ATPImages/Getty Images)
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Four claims in Vin Diesel sex abuse suit dropped, but numerous allegations remain
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Vin Diesel successfully landed a legal victory in the sexual battery lawsuit brought by his former assistant, Asta Jonasson. Per Variety, earlier today, Judge Daniel M. Crowley dropped four employment discrimination claims against the actor but upheld allegations of sexual battery and wrongful termination. The suit stems from a 2010 incident in which Jonasson alleges that Diesel pinned her to a hotel wall and masturbated in front of her. Jonasson, who Diesel’s production company hired in 2010, says that she was fired by the actor’s sister hours after the incident, believing he dismissed her because “she was no longer useful” to Diesel and “resisted his sexual assaults.” Jonasson says she did not come forward earlier because she signed a preemptive NDA, which the Speak Out Act prevents the enforcement of in sexual abuse cases.

Typically, the alleged 2010 incident would be outside the bounds of the statute of limitations, but the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2023, allows claims from as far back as 2009 to have their day in court. However, the accusations dismissed today were not covered under that legislation. In California, before filing a suit under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the plaintiff must first file a complaint with the Civil Rights Department, and in 2010, the deadline was one year. Ultimately, Judge Crowley tossed the FEHA portion of the suit. The remaining allegations are damning for Diesel, to say the least, as he faces claims of retaliation, wrongful termination, sexual battery, negilgent supervision and retention, and infliction of emotional distress.

The actor denied the allegations through his lawyer, who in 2023 said, “There is clear evidence which completely refutes these outlandish allegations.” We await the evidence.

 
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