Vin Diesel sees sexual battery lawsuit dismissed over jurisdiction and timing issues

A Los Angeles judge dismisses claims from former assistant Asta Jonasson

A Los Angeles judge has dismissed a sexual battery lawsuit filed against actor Vin Diesel, according to reporting from The Independent and Variety. The case was brought in 2023 by Asta Jonasson, a former assistant who briefly worked for Diesel during the filming of Fast Five in 2010.

Jonasson had accused Diesel — whose legal name is Mark Sinclair — of sexual battery and claimed she was terminated by his production company, One Race, following the alleged incident in Atlanta. Judge Daniel M. Crowley dismissed four of the ten claims on statute-of-limitations grounds and threw out the remaining six due to jurisdiction issues.

Although California passed the Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act in 2022, allowing certain older cases to move forward, the judge emphasized that the incident described in the lawsuit took place in Atlanta and therefore fell outside California’s legal reach. “It is undisputed that the alleged sexual assault took place in Atlanta,” Crowley wrote, adding that California statutes generally do not apply extraterritorially unless explicitly stated by lawmakers.

According to the original complaint, Jonasson had recently graduated from film school when she was hired by One Race to assist Diesel on location in Georgia. She alleged that late one night in September 2010 she was asked to wait in Diesel’s hotel suite and, after other guests left, he pulled her onto a bed and later pushed her against a wall before masturbating. Jonasson also argued she was dismissed shortly afterward, claiming she was fired because she resisted the alleged misconduct.

Her lawsuit included additional claims such as wrongful termination, retaliation, emotional distress, and hostile work environment.

Diesel’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, denied the allegations when the suit was first filed, stating that Diesel “categorically denies this claim in its entirety” and asserting there was evidence undermining Jonasson’s accusations.