Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine is being sued by an unnamed woman for sexual abuse, forcible touching, sexual harassment and retaliation, according to a document filed in New York court Wednesday (Nov. 22).
Though the full complaint is not yet available, a summons with notice was filed by the woman’s attorneys, Douglas Wigdor and Meredith Firetog at Wigdor Law. The case includes an accusation of “multiple instances” of abuse along with a specific incident of sexual misconduct that occurred in New York in 2007.
The woman is seeking economic and compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.
Kenny Meiselas, the attorney listed for Iovine on the summons, did not immediately return a request for comment.
The case against Iovine is just the latest in a string of sexual misconduct lawsuits filed over the last month against men in the music industry, including industry executives like L.A. Reid and superstar artists like Sean “Diddy” Combs and Axl Rose. The spike in cases is due to the looming expiration at midnight Thursday (Nov. 23) of New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year window for alleged survivors to take legal action over years-old accusations that would typically be barred under the statute of limitations.
The summons effectively extends the deadline to submit a complete lawsuit.
Originally a recording engineer, Iovine co-founded Interscope Records with Ted Field in 1990 and went on to launch such stars as No Doubt, Eminem, Beck and Lady Gaga. He later became chairman/CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M and co-founded Beats Electronics and Beats Music with Dr. Dre, which were acquired by Apple in 2014 for a combined $3 billion. Iovine served as a creative consultant for Apple Music until August 2018.
