The parents of a teenaged girl have filed a civil lawsuit seeking unspecified damages against actor Nick Nolte, alleging that she was drugged and sexually assaulted at a party at the actor's Malibu house nearly two years ago, according to the Associated Press.
Nolte is just one of several defendants in the suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Nov. 29. Also named is Nicholas Woodring, who was convicted in March of having sex with the girl, who was 15 at the time, in a related criminal case. That case never went to trial, though Woodring was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
''The criminal prosecution is over, and the victim wishes to make sure that nothing like this happens to anyone else again under the same or similar circumstances,'' Philip Dunn, the girl's attorney, told the AP on Thursday.
Though Nolte wasn't present at the time of the Jan. 25, 2003, incident, the suit alleges that he was negligent since he was ''aware of the propensity'' the other defendants — including at least one employee of Nolte's — had for providing alcohol and drugs to minors. ''The incident happened nearly two years ago, when Mr. Nolte was not at the property,'' Nolte's publicist Arnold Robinson said Thursday. ''It is our understanding that the individual responsible has been held accountable. Mr. Nolte was at the time, and still remains, concerned for the young lady's well-being.''
Nolte was arrested in a highly publicized drunk-driving incident in September 2002. He received three years probation, including counseling and drug testing, after pleading no contest to one count of driving under the influence of drugs. A second misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance was dropped.
