Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer filed suit Monday against the San Diego woman who accused him of sexual assault, claiming defamation and tortious interference while seeking unspecified monetary and punitive damages.
In the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Bauer’s attorneys say that the woman “fabricated allegations of sexual assault,” “pursued bogus criminal and civil actions,” “made false and malicious statements” and “generated a media blitz based on her lies” in an effort to “destroy” Bauer’s reputation, “garner attention for herself” and “extract millions of dollars.”
In a petition seeking a domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) that was filed on June 29, 2021, the woman — whom ESPN has chosen not to name — stated that Bauer took consensual rough sex too far during two encounters at his Pasadena, California, home in April and May 2021, alleging that he choked her unconscious on multiple occasions, sodomized her without consent and punched her all over her body, leaving her with injuries that prompted medical attention.
Bauer and his attorneys have firmly denied the accusations, calling them “fraudulent” and “baseless.”
The woman was denied a permanent restraining order following a four-day hearing in August, and six months later, in February 2022, the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office decided not to pursue criminal charges against Bauer. But Major League Baseball, which has the autonomy to suspend players for “just cause” under its domestic violence policy, is still investigating Bauer, who recently had his administrative leave extended through Friday.
In the suit, Bauer’s attorneys deny that he engaged in anal sex with the woman, punched her in the face, stomach or vagina, or scratched her on her cheek or on her back, as the woman said.
“At all times during both sexual encounters,” the suit reads, “Mr. Bauer respected the boundaries established and agreed upon with [the woman].”
The suit says that the woman, who at the time was 27 years old, continued to pursue Bauer after the first encounter with a goal of luring him into “a rougher sexual experience so she could later claim this sexual experience was not what she requested and thereby lay the groundwork for a financial settlement.”
The suit also references text messages the woman sent to friends in which she seemingly bragged about a potential payout, while noting inconsistent statements in her testimony during the DVRO hearing, saying that pictures of her injuries were altered and alleging that she “deliberately” deleted phone records during the process.