Steven Tyler Earns Legal Victory as Court Dismisses Accuser's Claims that Publication of Memoir Caused Emotional Distress

Steven Tyler was sued for alleged sexual assault, sexual battery and more by Julia Misley in December 2022

A Los Angeles court has granted Steven Tyler’s motion to strike portions of a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him in 2022 by a woman who says she had a sexual relationship with the Aerosmith rocker when she was a teen in the 1970s.

The court ruled on Wednesday that it would strike the parts of Julia Misley’s complaint against Tyler that claimed she suffered an “intentional infliction of emotional distress” (IIED) based on Tyler’s publication of his memoirs.

After Misley first filed suit in December 2022 alleging sexual assault, sexual battery and IIED, Tyler, 75, responded claiming she cannot use his memoirs as cause for emotional distress in court, as it was free speech and his writings do not identify her.

He alleged in court documents that his memoirs were published in 1997 and 2011, and because Misley didn’t sue until 2022, her IIED claim was barred by the two-year statute of limitations. He also argued that her claims were barred by the First Amendment because his memoirs “relay his own experiences from his newsworthy life.”

Attorneys for Misley did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, while a rep for Tyler declined to comment.

Related: Aerosmith's Steven Tyler Sexual Assault Lawsuit Dismissed as Victim Requests the Motion Be 'Stricken'

Misley has said she had a sexual relationship with the star when she was a teenager, and that the “Dream On” singer convinced her mother to grant him guardianship over her when she was 16 in order for them to continue the relationship.

Though she did not name Tyler in her suit, her allegations aligned with comments he’d made in his 2011 memoir Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? about a relationship with a 16-year-old girl. Misley eventually named Tyler in a follow-up statement.

Tyler’s memoir does not name Misley, though he writes he “almost took a teen bride” because “her parents fell in love with me, signed a paper over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state. I took her on tour with me.”

Related: Steven Tyler's Lawyer Says Woman Accusing Him of Sexual Assault Cannot Use His Memoir Against Him

In April, Tyler responded to Misley’s suit denying all claims against him, and stating that she consented to their sexual relationship. He also argued that he had immunity as her legal guardian, and requested the suit be dismissed (Her lawyer suggested Tyler was “gaslighting” her).

Tyler’s latest court win comes months after a second woman filed a sexual assault lawsuit against him in November, alleging he assaulted her twice in one day — including groping and simulated sex — when she was a teenager in 1975.

That suit was dismissed in February, with a New York judge ruling that the accuser waited too long to bring the case to light, and it did not qualify under the New York City law that allows abuse victims to speak up about decades-old crimes.

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