Heather Taylor has refiled her claims against Tommy Lee in a US court, accusing the Mötley Crüe drummer of sexual assault.

Originally filed in 2023, the lawsuit accuses Lee of sexually assaulting her in a helicopter a decade prior. Taylor voluntarily dismissed the claims in 2024, but has now refiled, relying on a new California law – Assembly Bill 250 – that her attorneys had cited when they withdrew the original complaint.

The bill opened a new two-year lookback window, allowing previously time-barred civil claims against individual defendants accused of sexual assault on an adult. Taylor says the renewed filing is her version of vindication.

“If anyone thought my prior dismissal was a retreat, they vastly miscalculated my stamina,” she told Rolling Stone. “I dismissed my own case to await this legislation. Now that I have the law in my favor, I’m seeking justice.”

The new 14-page complaint, per Rolling Stone, said Taylor ended up “trapped” with Lee, thousands of feet in the air, after she met helicopter pilot David Martz through her job at San Diego Metro Bank and accepted his invitation to take a sightseeing flight in early 2003.

As she and Martz walked toward the hangar, Lee was already waiting by the helicopter to join them, she alleged. Almost immediately after takeoff, the two men began consuming alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana in the cockpit, her filing alleged. She said the men “cajoled” her into joining them in the cockpit to get a better view, at which point Lee allegedly pulled her onto his lap. Taylor claimed Lee groped and kissed her and then forced his hand into her pants, penetrating her with his fingers. The complaint further alleged Lee pushed Taylor’s head toward his genitals in an attempt to force oral sex.

Taylor said she resisted while Martz allegedly chuckled in amusement. She claimed Lee finally released her and acted unfazed when they dropped him off at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles. She rode back to San Diego with Martz in silence and silently lived with the trauma for years, too afraid to report what happened to the police, she claimed.

Martz later died in a single-engine plane crash in 2015. The Los Angeles Times reported he had a lengthy disciplinary history, including multiple license suspensions. One revocation in 2009 followed footage showing him receiving oral sex from a pornographic film performer while hovering over San Diego. He was also charged with a misdemeanor in 2006 for landing a helicopter on a public road in the Hollywood Hills to pick up Lee for a Nine Inch Nails concert. He received three years of probation.

Taylor filed her initial lawsuit as a Jane Doe in December 2023, hoping the court process would allow her to establish those facts. Lee challenged the complaint, and in May 2024, a judge provisionally dismissed it with leave to amend, finding that Taylor had failed to plead sufficient facts showing a concerted cover-up or that Lee operated through a loan-out company at the time.

Rather than amend the complaint and risk another adverse ruling that could permanently terminate her claims, Taylor voluntarily withdrew the case to await the new legislation. Under AB 250, plaintiffs can sue alleged perpetrators of adult sexual assault without having to name an entity or prove there was a cover-up.

As AB 250 neared passage last year, Taylor stepped forward publicly with her full identity.