Vin Diesel likely to defeat sexual battery lawsuit brought by ex-assistant

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A Superior Court judge said Tuesday he is likely to rule in favor of Vin Diesel in his legal dispute with a former assistant who claims the action star sexually assaulted her in 2010.

In a tentative ruling, Judge Daniel Crowley said that since the acts supposedly occurred in the state of Georgia, the plaintiff, Asta Jonasson, couldn’t sue in the state of California.

In her complaint, Jonasson said she was hired as Diesel’s personal assistant while the actor was filming the fifth movie in the “Fast and Furious” series, entitled “Fast Five.” One night, she said, she found herself alone in a hotel suite with Diesel in Atlanta.

“Vin Diesel forcibly grabbed Ms. Jonasson, groped her breasts and kissed her,” she wrote in the complaint. “Ms. Jonasson struggled continually to break free of his grasp, while repeatedly saying no.” He “pinned her against the wall with his body, and grabbed Ms. Jonasson’s hand and placed it on his erect penis.” Later, he “pulled his penis out of his underwear and began to masturbate, while leaning against Ms. Jonasson and keeping her pinned to the wall with the left side of his body.”

Hours after the assault, Jonasson says she was fired over the phone by Diesel’s sister, who headed his production company.

Jonasson accused Diesel in 2023 of sexual battery, wrongful termination and violations of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. Had her suit been filed in Georgia, her claims would have been thrown out for having been filed outside the statute of limitations window. In filing the suit in California, Jonasson was trying to take advantage of a recently passed law that expanded the statute of limitations for sexual assault claims.

In June, Crowley agreed to dismiss the FEHA claims, for having been filed well after the one-year statute of limitations.

On Tuesday, the judge said he thought Diesel likely deserved to win the rest of the case, because of the doctrine of the “presumption of extraterritoriality.”

“Isn’t what the plaintiff did here essentially forum shop?” Crowley asked Jonasson’s attorney, Matthew Hale of Greenberg Gross. “Why didn’t she file this complaint in Georgia?”

Hale explained that Jonasson lived in Los Angeles, as did Diesel. His production company was also based in California, where the job interview took place.

“There is a laundry list of connections to California in this case,” Hale said.

“But none of the tortious conduct occurred in Californa?” asked a skeptical Crowley.

Hale said that didn’t matter, arguing that Jonasson’s were “interstate claims” that deserved to be heard by a jury. Diesel’s attorney, Sean Hardy, disagreed.

“What we have here, even assuming the facts as alleged, was purely an out-of-state crime,” Hardy told the judge. “If Ms. Jonasson went to the Los Angeles district attorney, they would refer the case to Georgia.” Extraterritoriality, he argued, applied with or without the statute of limitations extension.

Crowley said he would “stew on” the arguments, and issue a ruling within a week.

After the hearing, Hale said his client would consider filing an appeal if the tentative ruling held, depending on the “basis of the opinion.”

Diesel’s attorney Bryan Freedman said, “We look forward to the final ruling and putting this case behind us once and for all.”

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