SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The Rainbow Bar & Grill has reached confidential settlements with a group of women who filed a negligence lawsuit against the Sunset Strip restaurant over alleged sexual assaults committed by Ron Jeremy, according to Rolling Stone.
Two women, identified only as Jane Does 1 and 2, alleged that Jeremy assaulted them on the premises of the establishment in March 2017. At least seven other women joined them in suing Rainbow Bar & Grill over other alleged assaults.
"This has been a really long road for my clients," said Aaron Osten, a lawyer representing two of the alleged victims, who testified before the grand jury regarding incidents in 2016 and 2019.
"This is pretty much as close to closure as we can get," he told Rolling Stone.
Osten's clients allege that Jeremy cornered and attacked them, grabbing their breasts and pinching their nipples without consent, and that staff at Rainbow Bar & Grill knew about his predatory behavior and either enabled it or looked the other way.
"Hopefully, Rainbow learned their lesson and won't allow this to happen ever again," said Osten, who was prevented from sharing the total amount of the settlements, though he called them "a group effort."
Jeremy, born Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, was indicted in August 2021 on 34 counts of sexual assault involving 21 victims, some of whom were minors at the time, ranging in age from 15 to 51.
Now 72, Jeremy was found incompetent to stand trial in January 2023 and subsequently committed to a state-run mental health facility in California. However, a civil case against Rainbow Bar & Grill, which is owned by a company called Rockin' Horse, was allowed to proceed.
On Tuesday, there was a hearing in Santa Monica to consolidate all of the cases heading to trial, but there will not be further trials now that Rockin' Horse has struck settlements with Jeremy's alleged victims. The company was reportedly covered by insurance in the event of such incidents.
"These cases all went to mediation, and they have all been settled," attorney Michael Moss told a Los Angeles County judge. "But it will take a little time for everybody to finalize the paperwork and send the settlement checks."
Osten's two clients allege that Rainbow Bar & Grill employees “would give permission and would knowingly allow Ron Jeremy to use the employees’ restroom to sexually assault female patrons.”
The women claimed to have suffered “great physical pain and mental suffering” because of those events. Many others described the same or similar criminal behavior from Jeremy.
Osten chalked up the victory to the number of victims who bravely came forward.
"I don't think Rockin' Horse had any argument to make that they didn't know this was going on at their establishment," he told Rolling Stone. "When there are dozens of victims with the same perpetrator under the same circumstances, it's pretty clear what was happening."
For past coverage of the Ron Jeremy case, click here.
