{"id":3262,"date":"2024-11-08T21:35:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T21:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/dj-asks-judge-to-dismiss-case\/"},"modified":"2024-11-08T21:35:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T21:35:33","slug":"dj-asks-judge-to-dismiss-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/dj-asks-judge-to-dismiss-case\/","title":{"rendered":"DJ Asks Judge to Dismiss Case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tElectronic music producer Bassnectar is asking a federal judge to dismiss a long-running civil lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing three underage girls, arguing that all three alleged victims lied about their ages and had themselves instigated the relationships.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a motion filed Monday (Nov. 4) in Nashville federal court, attorneys for the DJ (Lorin Ashton) argued that the case did not need to be decided by a jury because the discovery process \u2014 the investigation of evidence during a civil lawsuit \u2014 had revealed that there was no merit to the allegations.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDiscovery has confirmed that when each of the plaintiffs first contacted defendant, they lied about not only their ages, but also their level of education, as well as their work and life experiences,\u201d his lawyers write. \u201cEach plaintiff admitted to deceiving defendant into believing that she was over the age of eighteen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAshton\u2019s lawyers also say the discovery process has also made \u201ccrystal clear\u201d that the DJ \u201cnever forced \u2014 in any way \u2014 plaintiffs into having a sexual relationship with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo the contrary, the record demonstrates that the pursuit of a sexual relationship between the parties was instigated by Plaintiffs, each of whom was always free to continue it or end it,\u201d his attorneys write. \u201cPlaintiffs simply cannot prove that they were coerced or that they felt that they had no other choice but to engage in a sexual relationship with Defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe filing comes more than three years after the three women \u2014 Rachel Ramsbottom, Alexis Bowling, and Jenna Houston \u2014 filed their lawsuit, accusing Ashton of using his \u201cpower and influence to groom and ultimately sexually victimize underage girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit, which accuses Ashton of sex trafficking, child pornography and negligence, claims that the star would invite minors to his shows, bring them to a hotel room and provide \u201clarge sums of cash and other items of value\u201d in exchange for sex.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast month, Ashton\u2019s attorneys moved for \u201csummary judgment,\u201d meaning the judge would rule on the case without submitting it to a jury. They cited, among many other arguments, that state law enforcement had investigated Ramsbottom\u2019s accusations and federal authorities had looked into Houston\u2019s \u2014 and that prosecutors had declined to file charges in both instances.<\/p>\n

\n\tResponding to that motion last month, attorneys for the accusers blasted Ashton for seeking to dismiss the case, claiming he had made damning admissions during depositions, including \u201cknowing full well\u201d that Ramsbottom was under 18. They also argued that he had clearly \u201cgroomed\u201d them in such a way that facilitated the abuse.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe entered their teenaged lives as a famous celebrity, engendered their trust, and made it such that his withdrawal of affection or the threat thereof, which the plaintiffs now understand to be abusive, caused each to continue their interaction with defendant,\u201d their lawyers wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Monday\u2019s reply from Ashton\u2019s attorneys, the case is now in the hands of the judge, who will decide in the coming weeks or months whether to order a jury trial or dismiss the accusations. Attorneys for both sides declined to comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electronic music producer Bassnectar is asking a federal judge to dismiss a long-running civil lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing three underage girls, arguing that all three alleged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1051,294,299,423],"class_list":["post-3262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-asks","tag-case","tag-dismiss","tag-judge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}