Bob Dylan Accuser Withdraws Sex Abuse Lawsuit

The anonymous woman identified only as “J.C.” who accused Bob Dylan of plying her with drugs and alcohol and sexually abusing her when she was 12 years old back in 1965 has permanently withdrawn her lawsuit against the musician.

As Billboard reports, the woman asked the federal judge overseeing her case on Thursday to dismiss it “with prejudice,” meaning the lawsuit cannot be refiled and the case will be permanently closed. The decision to withdraw the suit comes just one day after Dylan’s lawyers accused the plaintiff of destroying key evidence related to the case.

On Wednesday, Dylan’s legal team sent a letter to Judge Katherine Polk Failla informing her that J.C. had still not produced “dozens of critical emails we know exist,” even after the threat of sanctions. They claimed that the emails in question contained messages where she was discussing and “casting doubt” about the core allegations in the lawsuit.

The evidence “strongly suggests Plaintiff has destroyed evidence directly relevant to the central factual allegations in this litigation, and that the evidence may be lost forever,” the musician’s attorneys told the judge. “This would mean Plaintiff will never be able to comply with her discovery obligations and the integrity of these proceedings and Defendant’s ability to mount a fair defense have been compromised irretrievably.”

If J.C. did, in fact, destroy evidence related to the lawsuit, she would have been facing “case-ending sanctions and monetary sanctions,” per Dylan’s team. Instead, she’s opted to drop the whole case for good.

“This case is over. It is outrageous that it was ever brought in the first place,” Dylan’s lead attorney, Orin Snyder of the law firm Gibson Dunn, said in a statement to the publication. “We are pleased that the plaintiff has dropped this lawyer-driven sham and that the case has been dismissed with prejudice.”