The young British actor who accused X-Men director Bryan Singer of sexually abusing him voluntarily dismissed the suit against Singer on Friday in U.S. District Court in California.
The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the plaintiff cannot file any new cases against Singer with the same allegations.
While Singer had filed a motion to dismiss the case early in July, this dismissal came voluntarily from John Doe 117 before Singer's motion was heard by the court.
Jeffrey Herman, John Doe 117's attorney in the case, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Singer's attorney, Marty Singer (no relation), offered the following statement: "We are pleased the case was dismissed." Representatives for Goddard did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but both Singer and Goddard have strenuously denied the allegations in the past, calling them fabricated.
In his lawsuit, John Doe 117 claimed that both Singer and Gary Goddard, a Broadway production executive based in Hollywood, sexually abused him in a hotel room around the time of the London premiere of Singer's film Superman Returns in 2006.
The case against Goddard remains active. Much of the original complaint focuses more on Goddard than Singer, alleging that the executive spent years "grooming" the plaintiff, then a teenager, with love letters and gifts before abusing him.
Goddard, like Singer, had filed a motion to dismiss the case against him. But only a few days before voluntarily dismissing the case against Singer, John Doe 117's lawyers filed a long brief opposing Goddard's motion to dismiss, suggesting they plan to continue fighting in court.
The British actor is the second person to accuse Singer and Goddard of sexual abuse. The first was Michael Egan, who also targeted Hollywood executives Garth Ancier and David Neuman in a round of lawsuits filed in Hawaii. Egan has since dropped his cases against Ancier, Neuman, and Goddard, but filed new ones against unnamed defendants in California.
