UPDATE, 11:19 PM: Just days after celebrating its 53rd anniversary with a 1980s rock ‘n’ roll party, the Rainbow Bar & Grill in West Hollywood has settled a lawsuit over sexual assaults by now enfeebled porn star Ron Jeremy on its premises.
“Counsel indicates that a settlement has been reached,” reads an April 15 minute order from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark H. Epstein’s courtroom. News of the agreement with the multiple Jane Does alleging that Jeremy attacked them in bathrooms and backrooms of the Sunset Strip venue in 2016 was revealed during an early-morning status conference on the nearly two-year-old case.
No specifics were given but a “substantial” amount was paid out to the plaintiffs, I’m told.
A formal dismissal hearing is now set for July 2 in the Santa Monica Courthouse.
Jeremy, who was not a defendant in this matter, was arrested in June 2020 and indicted a couple of years later on 33 rape and sexual assault counts by the L.A. County D.A office, which could have resulted in 300 years behind bars if found guilty. Jeremy’s case never went to trial, however, due to an acute case of dementia aka “incurable neurocognitive decline.” The now 72-year-old actor was moved to a a state mental health facility in 2023 for what will likely be the rest of his life.
PREVIOUSLY, August 28, 2023: Two women are alleging that veteran porn actor Ron Jeremy sexually assaulted them at the Rainbow Bar & Grill and are suing the Sunset Strip landmark for “negligence in maintaining a safe environment for their female patrons.”
“Defendant Rockin’ Horse, Inc. and Does 1 through 100, inclusive, knowingly allowed a sexual predator into their bar time and time again and allowed him a dungeon, the employee’s restroom, for committing heinous sexual acts against Defendant’s female patrons,” the August 21 complaint filed on behalf of Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 in Los Angeles Superior Court against the owners of the Rainbow bluntly claims (read the lawsuit against the Rainbow Bar & Grill here).
Referencing grand jury testimony that led to Jeremy’s arrest on multiple rape charges in 2020, the recent filing by Los Angeles-based firm Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLP and Encino-set Nabati Law PC seeks a variety of unspecified damages for their clients arising out of the alleged March 17, 2017, attacks in the back bathroom of the rock ’n’ roll hangout.
With prudent description, the complaint detailed what allegedly happened six years ago in the back of the Rainbow after Jeremy walked the duo past numerous staffers:
Once the trio reached the bathroom, Ron Jeremy followed JANE DOE 1 and JANE DOE 2 into the bathroom. Ron Jeremy attempted to solicit pictures of them that appeared like they were giving Ron Jeremy a blowjob.
JANE DOE 1 managed to escape, but JANE DOE 2 was not so lucky. Ron Jeremy continued to sexually assault JANE DOE 2 in the bathroom, putting his hands in JANE DOE 2’s private areas, despite her pleas that he stop. At one point, after being in the bathroom for what felt like an eternity, and without any aid, JANE DOE 2 shouted at Ron Jeremy to stop, in hopes that Rainbow Bar staff would hear her cries.
After both JANE DOE 1 and JANE DOE 2 escaped the restroom, Ron Jeremy still continued to target them while Plaintiffs attempted to leave Rainbow Bar.
Further laying out their case against Jeremy, the plaintiffs’ lawyers say, “Rainbow Bar employees would facilitate Ron Jeremy drugging women’s drinks. They note: “One woman [referred to as Jane Doe 9 in the grand jury transcript] met Ron Jeremy at Rainbow Bar. Ron Jeremy then told the bartender to ‘get her the Ron Jeremy special.’”
With the heinous acts that the much-accused Jeremy is alleged to have committed in this case alone, you perhaps are wondering why the slovenly adult movie actor isn’t named as a defendant in the matter along with the 1972-founded Rainbow. Well, facing over 300 years in prison if found guilty on 33 rape and sexual assault counts, 70-year-old Jeremy was deemed incompetent to stand trial earlier this year due to “incurable neurocognitive decline.”
Judge Ronald S. Harris pulled the plug on the case, and Jeremy then was moved from downtown LA’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility into a state mental health facility. Unless his condition dramatically changes, Jeremy will remain in said facility for the rest of his days.
Attempts to contact the Rainbow Bar & Grill about the suit were unsuccessful this morning. If and when we hear from the establishment, we will update this post.
If the name of firm Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLP seems familiar to some it is because they represented widower Matthew Hutchins in his wrongful death suit against Alec Baldwin and others for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of indie Western Rust on October 21, 2021.
Altough Baldwin is facing a plethora of civil cases over the shooting and possible refiling of criminal charges, the Matthew Hutchins case never went to trial as the parties settled in October 2022. Among other aspects of that deal, the widower Hutchins was made an executive producer on the resurrected Rust, which finished production in Montana this spring, and is working on a documentary about his wife.
