Cases of Note

Case Summary In a civil suit filed on December 21st in Los Angeles Superior Court stemming from a 2010 incident in which Vin Diesel’s former assistant, Asta Jonasson alleges that Diesel forcibly groped, restrained and kissed her in a hotel suite in Atlanta and masturbated in front of her. The complaint states Diesel ignored Jonasson’s “clear statements of non-consent,” and after she “screamed and ran towards the nearby bathroom,” he “pinned her against the wall with his body." Jonasson claims that Samantha Vincent, the president of Diesel’s company One Race at the time, called her “mere hours” after the alleged assault and “terminated Ms. Jonasson’s employment.” “No one is too famous or powerful to evade justice,” Claire-Lise Kutlay of Greenberg Gross LLP, attorney for Jonasson, wrote in a statement. “We hope her courageous decision to come forward helps create lasting change and empowers other survivors.” “Vin Diesel categorically denies this claim in its entirety,” Bryan Freedma

President Joe Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act , or H.R. 4445 into law on March 3, 2022 at a White House ceremony. The law amends the Federal Arbitration Act and allows employees subject to pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements to pursue their claims in court related to sexual assault or sexual harassment.  As the #MeToo movement brought to light, in the worst cases, arbitration and nondisclosure agreements can shield serial harassers from accountability and allow them to habitually abuse employees. Court decisions and orders make the identity of violators of the law and their conduct public, which can serve to influence behavior and deter sexual harassment and assault from occurring in the first place. Some of America’s most prominent employers have already voluntarily discontinued mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment claims, and several states have passed laws directed at restricting mandatory arbitration of harassm