Vin Diesel Wins Legal Victory as Former Assistant’s Case Is Dismissed Due to Technicality

A judge has dismissed a s***** battery lawsuit against Vin Diesel, ruling that California law does not apply to incidents that allegedly took place in Georgia. The ruling was reported by multiple news outlets on Wednesday.

The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by Diesel’s former assistant, Asta Jonasson, who accused the actor of se**** assaulting her in 2010 while filming Fast Five in Atlanta.

Jonasson claimed Diesel brought her to his hotel room, pushed her against a wall, and forced her to touch him. She also said that hours later, Diesel’s sister called to fire her after she had worked for Diesel for only nine days.

Previously, Judge Daniel M. Crowley had dismissed four of Jonasson’s 10 claims, citing the statute of limitations. In Wednesday’s ruling, he dismissed the remaining six claims, saying the court did not have jurisdiction. “It is undisputed that the alleged s***** assault took place in Atlanta, Ga.,” the judge wrote. He added that the case “fails as a matter of law because California statutes are presumed not to have extraterritorial effect unless the Legislature expressly states otherwise in adopting the statute.”

Jonasson’s lawyers said they plan to appeal the dismissal. “The Court did not decide anything about the truth of Ms. Jonasson’s allegations,” they said. “The ruling was based on a legal technicality, with which we respectfully disagree. Ms. Jonasson intends to appeal.”

Diesel’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, denied the allegations from the start. “We are grateful that the court put an end to this meritless lawsuit,” Freedman said. “We are pleased that this matter has been resolved entirely.”

The case was affected by California’s 2022 Se**** Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act, which temporarily revived certain s***** assault claims going back to 2009. However, the judge ruled that the law does not apply to incidents that occurred outside California.

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