On December 16th 2025, it was announced that the case of Ashley Walters (ex-assistant) brought against her former employer Marilyn Manson (Brian Warner) through her second amended complaint on March 11th 2022, has been dismissed without prejudice. This is because on September 19th 2025, Marilyn Manson and Marilyn Manson Records, Inc. filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, and this Motion was granted on December 16th. Hence the jury trial which was scheduled for the 26th of January will no longer take place. According to court documents, the Motion for Summary Judgment was granted for three reasons: 1. “There is no triable issue of material fact.” The court is saying: Even if we look at the evidence most favorably to the plaintiff, there is nothing a jury needs to decide because the key facts are either undisputed or legally irrelevant. Meaning: The dispute is purely legal, not factual — and the law favors the defendants. 2. “Plaintiff’s claims are time barred.” The court is saying:...
May 9 - Anti-SLAPP Rulings Revealed and Why Marilyn Manson Has a Strong Case for an Appeal Anti-SLAPP laws work by putting more burden than usual on defamed plaintiffs like Manson, forcing them to clearly show at the outset that their case is legitimate. In California, the reason strict anti-SLAPP laws exist is because they have so many cases to go through, and it helps to alleviate the pressure of the courts by making cases less time consuming by eliminating certain aspects of a claim before they go to discovery. The major drawback of this is that a plaintiff must enter the case with all their evidence in hand when it comes to defamation claims even before discovery can be conducted. Thus, it makes it almost impossible for a defamation claim to pass into the discovery portion of the case unless the unquestionable evidence already clearly exists. In some cases, like Manson's, the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim can also be part of the anti-SLAPP. Summary of the...