If it seems like you’ve been seeing a lot of claims of sexual assault against celebrities in the last few days, that’s because you are. New lawsuits have been filed against the likes of Jamie Foxx, Axl Rose, Cuba Gooding Jr., and P. Diddy in the last week, and most were filed in the last couple of days. There’s a particular reason for that, as the window for filing these suits is coming to a close.
The New York Adult Survivors Act was signed into law in early 2022. It gave residents who claimed to have been sexually assaulted a one year period to file their suits, even if the statute of limitations had expired. That grace period will end on November 22, 2023, so we’re seeing people who had not previously filed all doing so at once.
Among the highest-profile cases is that of Jamie Foxx. A woman identified as Jane Doe alleges Foxx groped her at a rooftop bar in New York in 2015. According to TMZ, the woman says Foxx molested the woman after she asked for a picture with the actor. She claims she needed a medical examination following the incident. Both Foxx and the bar, Catch NYC & Roof, are named in the suit.
Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose has also been named in a fresh lawsuit. Model Sheila Kennedy says that in 1989 she was raped by Rose in his hotel room. He allegedly physically assaulted her and another woman before raping Kennedy according to Rolling Stone (via EW). While Foxx’s camp has yet to respond officially to the lawsuit against him, a statement has been released by Rose's attorney, who claims the incident never happened.
The New York law had been used previously to file lawsuits against Bill Cosby as well as Former President Trump. Cosby was also convicted of criminal charges and was sentenced to as much as 10 years, but he only served two.
In addition to these new allegations, we’re also seeing civil suits filed in regard to incidents that were adjudicated in criminal court previously. In 2019 Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. was accused of sexual misconduct. He pled guilty in 2022 to a downgraded harassment charge. Now a civil suit has been brought against the actor for the same incident.
Some of these individuals may be headed to court, though others could be settled out of court. A case against Sean “Diddy” Combs was brought last week under the same New York law, that accused the singer of rape and years of abuse by his former girlfriend Cassie. Page Six reported the suit was settled the very next day.
Of course, these are only the lawsuits that have made headlines because they are against famous people. A total of 2,600 cases have reportedly been filed during the “look back” period, and there is likely a major influx of last-minute cases brought by others that aren’t making the headlines.
