Steven Tyler's sexual assault lawsuit dismissed by judge, citing decades of delay from alleged victim

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing it Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler for sexually assaulting a teenage girl decades ago, ruling that she waited too long to bring her case.

Former teen model Jeanne Bellino sued the rocker in November, alleging he had forcibly kissed her, groped her and “struck” her twice in one day in Manhattan in the summer of 1975. The case was filed under a newly amended New York law that allows abuse victims to sue over decades-old allegations.

But in a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Bellino's case did not qualify under the new statute. It ruled that the special “lookback” window only applies to cases where the perpetrator's actions presented a “serious risk of bodily harm” – and that Tyler's alleged actions did not.

“The complaint in this case does not allege a serious risk of bodily harm and therefore does not state a legally sufficient claim under [NYC statute]”, the judge wrote.

Wednesday's decision could be legally significant. Many other alleged victims have long filed abuse cases under that law — the New York Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law — after it opened a two-year window for such lawsuits from March 1, 2023 to March 1, 2025.

Bellino sued in November, claiming she suffered “severe and permanent emotional distress” over the incidents, which allegedly occurred when she was 17 and Tyler was 27. “Tyler used his power, influence and authority as well-known musician for sexually assaulting the plaintiff.”

In her complaint, Bellino alleged that she and a friend had arranged to meet Aerosmith in Manhattan. First, she said Tyler pushed her into a phone booth and “stuck his tongue down her throat” before fondling her and “hunching her over pretending to have sex with the Plaintiff.” After returning to a hotel with the group later in the day, she alleged that Tyler “pinned the Plaintiff against the wall again” and forcibly kissed her and hit her.

Tyler has not commented publicly on the lawsuit, but in court filings, his attorneys said he “vehemently denies” the allegations. In their motion to dismiss the case, his lawyers argued that Bellino could not use the newly enacted New York statute to sue for “alleged sexual harassment that occurred nearly half a century ago.”

“Ms. Bellino's attempt to advance a claim based on statutory enactments decades after the alleged misconduct is contrary to legislative intent, statutory construction, and fundamental concepts of individual liberty and due process embodied in both state and in the federal constitution,” Tyler's attorneys wrote in a motion earlier this month.

Wednesday's ruling by Judge Kaplan granted that motion, dismissing the lawsuit. But the judge said Bellino could potentially seek to file an updated version of her case. gave her until next month to request the right to do so. Neither side immediately returned requests for comment Thursday.

The lawsuit was the second abuse case against Tyler in recent years. In 2022, the rock star was sued by Julia Holcomb, who claims that Tyler assaulted her repeatedly over three years starting in 1973, when she was just 16 years old. Holcomb claims to be the girl Tyler refers to in his memoir, Does the noise in my head bother you?when he wrote he “almost took a teenage bride” and convinced her parents to grant him custody of her.

Holcomb's case, filed in Los Angeles under a different statute of retroactivity, remains pending. Tyler has denied those allegations as well, and his attorneys are seeking to have the case dismissed.