Third US lawsuit against author Neil Gaiman dismissed by judge

Scarlett Pavlovich accused Neil Gaiman (pictured) of multiple sexual assaults while she was working as the family's nanny in 2022. Photo / Getty Images

By RNZ

All three US lawsuits accusing author Neil Gaiman of sexually assaulting his children’s nanny in Auckland four years ago have now been dismissed.

Scarlett Pavlovich filed lawsuits against Gaiman and his wife Amanda Palmer in the US states of Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New York last year.

She accused Gaiman of multiple sexual assaults while she was working as the family’s nanny in 2022.

The New York lawsuit was dropped last year, and the Wisconsin lawsuit was dismissed in October, with the judge saying Pavlovich needed to pursue the case in New Zealand.

AP has now reported that US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston threw out the Massachusetts filing late last week on the same grounds.

The British author has denied the claims, but argued that as the alleged abuses occurred in New Zealand – where Pavlovich is a citizen and Gaiman has permanent residency status – the US had no jurisdiction over the allegations.

Pavlovich sued Gaiman, author of The Sandman comic book series and the novel American Gods, while Palmer was accused of knowing that Pavlovich was vulnerable, and failing to warn that Gaiman had a history of predatory behaviour, according to court papers.

The lawsuits sought unspecified damages that were “reasonably believed” to exceed US$1 million ($1.7m) on multiple claims, Reuters earlier reported.

In his motion to dismiss, Gaiman called the claims a “sham”, saying while he and Pavlovich did engage in “sexual activity”, they never had sexual intercourse and it was always consensual.

“None of Pavlovich’s claims are true,” Gaiman said.

Pavlovich painted a very different picture of the events in an interview last year with Vulture, a US entertainment news page for the New York Magazine.

Pavlovich said she agreed to babysit the couple’s child, but soon Gaiman began sexually abusing her, including by raping her, choking her and assaulting her in the presence of his child, according to court papers.

The abuse allegedly lasted several weeks, until Gaiman and his child left for Europe.

At the time, she was 22 and Gaiman was 61.

Following the publication of the allegations, Gaiman wrote that he had “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever”.

-RNZ