A Los Angeles County judge abruptly recused herself Tuesday from a high-profile sexual assault lawsuit against Steven Tyler, marking an unexpected twist just two weeks before a trial was set to begin over claims the Aerosmith frontman abused plaintiff Julia Misley when she was a minor in the 1970s. At an afternoon hearing in Torrance, California, Judge Patricia A. Young stated that she disclosed a potential conflict to both sides on Monday and asked how they wished to proceed.
When a lawyer for Misley said the parties met but could not agree to waive the issue, Young said she had no choice but to step aside. A source told Rolling Stone that Young informed the parties she had been consulting with another judge about the long-running lawsuit and only recently learned that was a problem because the other judge had previously been removed from the case for undisclosed reasons. It was not immediately clear when the case would be reassigned or a new trial date set.
Attempts to reach lawyers on both sides for comment were not immediately successful. In her lawsuit initially filed in December 2022 and first reported by Rolling Stone, Misley claimed that 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 asked the court to dismiss the entire lawsuit, arguing that he lived with Misley in Boston for the vast majority of their relationship, where the age of consent was 16.
He argued that Massachusetts law governed the relationship even when he traveled with Misley, formerly Julia Holcomb, in other states. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century Tyler succeeded in getting much of Misley’s case dismissed, including allegations tied to alleged conduct in Oregon and Washington. But Misley and her lawyers persuaded the court that Tyler was still subject to local laws when he traveled with her in California and that the state’s Child Victims Act, enacted in 2019, had temporarily revived otherwise expired claims by giving survivors of childhood sexual abuse a three-year window to sue.
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 said he had sex with her that night. They had sex again in Seattle, at the next stop on his concert tour, she claimed.
The age of consent in Oregon and Washington at the time was 18. Misley claimed Tyler also brought her to California for an awards show and dragged her naked onto an elevator so he could have sex with her in a pool. She alleged she was groomed into a three-year relationship in which Tyler became her legal guardian.
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