Steven Tyler’s accuser has been given the green light to proceed with her California sex abuse claims.
After a series of hearings, a judge has ruled that the California-based claims in the child sex abuse lawsuit brought by Julia Misley would survive a challenge and proceed to trial.
The Aerosmith musician had asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, saying he lived with Julia Misley in Boston during their relationship, where the age of consent was 16.
In a partial victory for Tyler, the judge pledged to toss out Misley’s separate claims tied to alleged abuse in Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts.
In her lawsuit initially filed in December 2022 and first reported by Rolling Stone, Misley claimed Tyler sexually abused her for years beginning in 1973, when she was a high school sophomore, and he was 25.
Tyler denied the claims and argued that Massachusetts law governed the relationship even when he travelled with Misley in other states.
Misley and her lawyers successfully argued that Tyler had to respect the laws against child sex abuse in each state. The judge agreed with them in part, saying Misley’s claim that Tyler sexually abused her at a hotel in California was strong enough to proceed.
“I’m completely on board with that. Even if it’s legal in Massachusetts, California has an interest in saying, ‘OK, that’s fine, but it’s illegal here. Don’t come within our borders and do it here,'” Judge Young said at a December hearing on the matter.
Misley claimed in her lawsuit that Tyler invited her backstage when they first met in Portland in 1973, a month after her 16th birthday. She alleged she was groomed into a three-year relationship, during which Tyler became her legal guardian.
In his 2011 memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, Tyler recalled the guardianship arrangement.
“I went and slept at her parents’ house for a couple of nights, and her parents fell in love with me, signed papers over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state,” he wrote.
