Steven Tyler attends the 4th Annual GRAMMY Awards Viewing Party benefiting Janie’s Fund at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California last year. Phillip Faraone/WireImage via Getty Images
- A woman sued Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, alleging that he sexually assaulted her when she was a minor.
- Legal experts say evidence from Tyler’s own memoir is likely to be used against him in court.
- The evidence against him is unusually compelling, according to experts, leaving him with an uphill battle.
Legal experts say the lawsuit against Steven Tyler over alleged sexual abuse is unusual – and one in which his accuser, Julia Misley, can use his own words against him.
The fact that Misley’s lawsuit made it through to court without a settlement is unusual, they said. And so is Misley’s long history of speaking publicly about Tyler’s alleged sexual abuse. Combined with words from Tyler’s own memoir, this is strong evidence that would be difficult for a jury to dismiss.
In the final days of the legal “lookback window” for California adults who were sexually abused as children, Misley filed a lawsuit accusing the Aerosmith singer of sexually assaulting her as a minor in the 1970s.
In the weeks since, the LA Supreme Court has granted approval to officially name Tyler – previously referred to as “Defendant Doe 1” – in the lawsuit, and Misley has asked for a jury trial and an unspecified amount of damages.
“It’s a bit surprising that it’s even on trial,” Ann Olivarius, an attorney at McAllister Olivarius who frequently represents survivors of sexual assault and harassment, told Insider. “We find that it’s usually the most powerful men who want to rule things, and they just don’t want it to continue.”
Misley alleged in her lawsuit that she was 16 when she met Tyler at an Aerosmith concert and that he thereafter “performed various criminal sexual acts on her” while being aware of her age. She also claimed that Tyler was granted guardianship over her, allowing them to live together and travel across state lines while Tyler engaged in sexual assault, sexual violence, and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
Misley’s claims are partially corroborated by Tyler himself, who wrote in his memoir about a 16-year-old girl whom he described as “barely old enough to drive and sexy as hell.” Tyler called the 16-year-old his “partner in crimes of passion” and said he “almost took a teenage bride.”
Tyler also described how he convinced the 16-year-old’s parents to sign custody papers for their daughter “so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state.” I took her on tour.” As noted by Misley’s lawsuit, Tyler’s memoir even credited Misley in the acknowledgments.
Tyler and his legal team have not yet responded to the allegations, in court or otherwise, and a representative for the singer did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Tyler could probably have ended this if he’d wanted to
Experts agreed that Tyler’s account of the relationship was shocking evidence. Allegations of child sexual abuse — especially when they’re decades-old allegations — can be difficult to prove due to the lack of physical evidence, but Misley’s allegations have the makings of a compelling case.
“That statement is absolutely something they can use to question him in court,” said Debra Greenberger, a New York City attorney whose firm has handled many cases under New York’s Child Victims Act, including two cases that will soon be forthcoming be brought to court.
The vast majority of child sexual abuse cases — including cases filed under laws like California and New York’s Child Victims Act, which grant temporary windows of opportunity to bring allegations years or decades ago — never make it into one Courtroom, let alone a trial called Olivarius. Instead, most cases are settled tacitly between the attorneys of both parties.
Even Virginia Giuffre’s high-profile sex abuse case against Prince Andrew, filed under New York’s Child Victims Act, was eventually settled, although Andrew is reportedly trying to overturn the settlement.
Greenberger said that when it comes to strong sexual assault allegations that make it through the courts, there are generally two options: either the parties’ attorneys couldn’t agree on a private settlement first, or the accuser is asking for a “public reckoning.” “. about the alleged abuse and does not want to settle privately.
“He has a recording on record. So he’s obviously proud of it,” Olivarius said. “He could have ended this if he wanted to. And he didn’t.”
Greenberger also said that Misley will likely be able to use the age of her allegations to her advantage, not her disadvantage. Greenberger said survivors who can describe how their abusers changed the course of their lives over a period of decades are often in a much better position to get a jury on their side than survivors who have recently experienced abuse .
“It is very powerful for the jury to listen and consider redress when they realize the impact of this abuse is not small. It’s not something that goes away in a month or even a year or two,” Greenberger said. “It’s lifelong, and it’s only decades later that survivors can truly speak for themselves about the devastating effects of child sexual abuse.”
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