Author Neil Gaiman evades Wisconsin sexual assault case

MENOMINEE, Wis. (CN) — A Wisconsin federal judge dismissed a former nanny’s claims of repeated and brutal rape against bestselling sci-fi author Neil Gaiman, citing jurisdictional issues.

In February, Scarlett Pavlovich filed three federal complaints in the Western District of Wisconsin, the Southern District of New York and the District of Massachusetts against Gaiman, the 64-year-old author best known for “The Sandman” and “Coraline."

U.S. District Judge James Peterson found that the case has no connection to the Badger State besides Gaiman’s home in Menominee, and said the claims were better suited for courts in New Zealand, where Pavlovich is a citizen and where the purported assaults took place.

“Wisconsin jurors would be scratching their heads about how and why they were being asked to decide a dispute regarding such far away events that have nothing to do with them,” Peterson, a Barack Obama appointee, said in the 17-page opinion.

Pavlovich claimed in her suits that Gaiman’s wife, singer Amanda Palmer — whom he is now separated from — hired her to work as a live-in nanny for the couple’s son in 2022 after she confided in Palmer about her financial hardships and housing insecurity.

Pavlovich said that Gaiman repeatedly raped and assaulted her at his home on Waiheke Island near Auckland, New Zealand in increasingly demeaning encounters that left her begging him to stop and screaming in pain.

She also claimed that Gaiman’s son was sometimes present for the encounters, and that Palmer was aware of the rapes and looked the other way.

Pavlovich currently lives in the United Kingdom, while Gaiman and Palmer live separately in Wisconsin and Massachusetts, respectively. Since Pavlovich didn’t bring suit in her home country, her preference isn’t strongly considered, Peterson said.

Gaiman brought his motion to dismiss under the doctrine of forum non coveniens, which requires the court to consider whether New Zealand has available and adequate remedies to satisfy Pavlovich’s claims.

The law doesn’t require those remedies to be as robust or favorable as those available in the United States, Peterson said in the opinion issued late Friday. But New Zealand offers several paths for relief for the facts of this case that are more than satisfactory, he said.

The nanny could seek compensatory damages under the “Accident Compensation Act” and “rehabilitative entitlements” in the form of therapy for the emotional damage inflicted, Peterson said. She could also file for exemplary or punitive damages that are reserved for conduct that is “truly outrageous.”

Pavlovich argued against these options, claiming they are not adequate because the country doesn’t recognize civil causes of action for human trafficking, and she would not be eligible for rehabilitative entitlements because she no longer lives in New Zealand.

It is undisputed that the facts of the case meet the burden for criminal human trafficking, Peterson countered, for which a conviction would bring monetary reparations.

Peterson also considered the public and private interest in the case. Gaiman identified several witnesses and evidence in New Zealand that would be difficult or even impossible to present in the United States, since the country is beyond the boundaries of a subpoena.

Despite the “serious and disturbing” nature of the claims, which Peterson said depict Gaiman as “predatory, cruel and sadistic” the facts clearly lean in favor of dismissal.

“The limitations that Pavlovich identifies in New Zealand’s remedies are not equivalent of ’no remedy at all,’" Peterson said. “Courts have rejected arguments that the same types of limitations render a remedy inadequate.”

In her complaints, Pavlovich claimed that Gaiman sometimes used truffle oil or butter as lubricant, forced her to consume his feces or urine after the assault and called her his “slave.”

One such encounter took place in a hotel room while Gaiman’s child — who also eventually demanded to be called “master” and called Pavlovich his “slave” — was sitting on the end of the bed playing on an iPad and talking to Gaiman while he raped Pavlovich just a few feet away, Pavlovich said.

She said that Palmer wasn’t surprised to hear about the repeated assaults, instead saying “I bet he did.” She claimed Palmer was aware of the danger Gaiman posed and used her financial insecurity to trap her in a job she could not afford to leave no matter what he did to her.

Palmer is also pursuing a motion to dismiss the claims brought by Pavlovich in Massachusetts for the same jurisdictional issues. She has agreed to answer service is New Zealand, according to Peterson.

If Gaiman and Palmer refuse service in New Zealand, Pavlovich can refile in the Western District of Wisconsin. She appealed the dismissal on Monday to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Neither party could be reached for comment by press time.

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