The sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Elton John by a former security guard has been dismissed.
Jeffrey Wenninger launched legal action against the Rocket Man star in March, suing him for sexual harassment and battery and claiming the singer grabbed him inappropriately on multiple occasions during his employment, which ended in September, 2014.
It appears the case has now been dropped as the security guard’s lawyer requested its dismissal this week. According to TMZ.com, it’s unclear why it has been dismissed but “all signs point to a settlement”.
Orin Snyder, a lawyer acting for Elton’s Rocket Entertainment Group, issued a statement strongly back in March.
“This baseless lawsuit is brought by a disgruntled former security officer seeking to extract an undeserved payment,” he told Digitalspy.com. “These claims are patently untrue and contradicted by numerous previous statements made by this plaintiff. We will not give into his latest abuse of the legal system.”
In the lawsuit, Wenninger described three separate incidents in 2014 when he was allegedly harassed by the singer. He claimed the singer put his hands down his trousers and tried to grab his penis and put his finger between his bum cheeks, while on another occasion, Elton allegedly twisted Wenninger’s nipples and said, “You gorgeous thing, you.” The former employee said his attempts to resist the singer verbally and physically didn’t work.
This is the second accusation of sexual misconduct against Elton to be withdrawn this year. An unnamed British male was dismissed from the singer’s employment in mid-2015 and he launched legal action against Elton and two of his companies for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination, including allegations of sexual misconduct in August of 2015.
Full details were kept under wraps due to legal restrictions but it was reported by British newspaper The Sun on Sunday that Elton paid a six-figure sum to settle the case out of court in February.
