David Livingston/Getty Images; Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images
- Marilyn Manson filed a motion to dismiss sexual assault and battery claims against the him.
- "Game of Thrones" actress Esmé Bianco filed a lawsuit in April accusing him of sexual abuse.
- Manson is claiming the allegations hold no weight due to California's statute of limitations laws.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Marilyn Manson's attorneys on Wednesday filed a motion to dismiss "Game of Thrones" actress Esme Bianco's sexual assault and battery claims against the shock rock artist, arguing that they had no merit based on California's statute of limitations law.
In the new motion reviewed by Insider, attorney Howard King said that Bianco's claims were "a key component of a coordinated attack by multiple plaintiffs, who are cynically and dishonestly seeking to monetize and exploit the #MeToo movement."
Insider reached out to Bianco's attorney for a comment on the new filing.
In April, Bianco filed a civil suit in federal court against Marilyn Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, accusing him of sexual assault and battery.
Her lawsuit said that Manson "committed sexual acts" with the actress without her consent. Bianco said that, at times, she was unconscious, and the lawsuit also described instances of physical abuse, forced drug use, and threats of violence.
Bianco claimed that when they were briefly dating, Manson violated human trafficking laws by flying her from London to Los Angeles for a music video that was not released and a film that she also alleged was staged so that he could see her and later physically abuse her.
Bianco and Manson dated in 2011, and Bianco first spoke publicly about the allegations in a New York Magazine interview in February.
Prior to Bianco's interview, multiple women had accused Manson of abuse, including Evan Rachel Wood, who said the singer "groomed" her during their relationship, and Wolf Alice singer Ellie Rowsell said Manson subjected her to years of sexual and physical abuse.
Manson denied the allegations made by the women and called them "horrible distortions of reality" in February.
Bianco was the first person to take legal action against Manson. In February, he was also dropped from his label Loma Vista records.
Howard King, an attorney representing Manson, had previously told Insider that Bianco's allegations are "provably false."
"To be clear, this suit was only filed after my client refused to be shaken down by Ms. Bianco and her lawyer and give in to their outrageous financial demands based on conduct that simply never occurred. We will vigorously contest these allegations in court and are confident that we will prevail," King said in April.
The new filings by King allege that Bianco's claims are "governed by the two-year statute of limitations in California Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1" and that they should be dismissed.
"Because the statute of limitations expired in 2013 and Plaintiff did not file her claims until 2021, her sexual assault and battery claims are not actionable and should be dismissed," King wrote.
Manson's attorney alleged that California's code Of Civil Procedure Section 340.16, which was amended in 2019 to include a ten-year Statute Of Limitations for adult claims of sexual abuse, does not apply to the case because the abuse allegedly occurred in 2011, and "the statute does not revive claims that lapsed under the former limitations period."
King also argued that the case should be dismissed because Bianco did not separately plead for an exception to the statutes of limitations.