A judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a lawsuit that accused Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel of sexual battery.
Asta Jonasson, who briefly worked for the actor while he was filming Fast Five in the fall of 2010, filed a lawsuit in 2023 accusing Diesel – real name Mark Sinclair – of battery. She also claimed she was fired by his production company after the alleged incident in Atlanta, Georgia.
As Variety reports, judge Daniel M. Crowley dismissed four of Jonasson’s 10 claims citing the statute of limitations and the remaining six claims due to a lack of jurisdiction.
The alleged 2010 incident would typically fall outside the statute of limitations, but in 2022 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act, which meant certain sexual assault cases dating back to 2009 could be brought before a court.
“It is undisputed that the alleged sexual assault took place in Atlanta,” the judge wrote.
He went on to say that the claim “fails as a matter of law because California statutes are presumed not to have extraterritorial effect unless the Legislature expressly states otherwise in adopting the statute.”
According to Jonasson’s original lawsuit, she was a recent Los Angeles film school graduate when she was hired by Diesel’s company, One Race, to work for the actor on location in Atlanta, where the movie was filming.
Late one night in September 2010, Jonasson claimed she was asked to wait for Diesel in his St Regis hotel suite while he entertained nightclub hostesses he had invited back, according to the suit.
Once the women left, the suit alleged that Diesel “grabbed Ms Jonasson’s wrists, one with each of his hands, and pulled her onto the bed”. After asking him to stop and escaping his grasp, Jonasson waited by the door of his suite for him to leave.
She alleged that, instead, he pushed her against a wall and masturbated. Shortly after the alleged incident, Diesel’s sister and president of One Race, Samantha Vincent, called Jonasson to terminate her employment. “It was clear to her that she was being fired because she was no longer useful – Vin Diesel had used her to fulfill his sexual desires and she had resisted his sexual assaults,” the lawsuit claimed.
In addition to sexual battery, Jonasson sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful termination, hostile work environment, and retaliation, among other things.
When the lawsuit was first filed, Diesel’s lawyer Bryan Freedman denied the allegations on his behalf.
“Let me be very clear: Vin Diesel categorically denies this claim in its entirety,” he said. “There is clear evidence which completely refutes these outlandish allegations.”
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