Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer and a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2021 have settled their legal dispute, Bauer’s attorneys said Monday.
Bauer and his accuser withdrew their lawsuits against one another with prejudice, according to attorneys Jon Fetterolf and Shawn Holley.
“Mr. Bauer did not make — and has never made — any payments to Ms. Hill, including to resolve their litigation,” the statement said in part. “With this matter now at rest, Mr. Bauer can focus completely on baseball.”
In fact, no money is exchanging hands in either direction in the settlement, Bauer said in a video posted to social media Monday.
Major League Baseball suspended Bauer for a record 324 games for violating its domestic violence policy after a woman alleged that he sexually assaulted her over two encounters.
A neutral arbitrator reduced that suspension to 194 games in December 2022. The Dodgers then released him in January of this year.
Bauer and the woman both said they engaged in sexual activity twice during the pitcher’s debut season with the Dodgers. Bauer claims it was consensual and that he didn’t do anything the woman didn’t ask him to do.
A Los Angeles judge denied the woman’s request for a restraining order in the summer of 2021, and the district attorney’s office later declined to press charges.
In Bauer’s video Monday, he said he learned that “critical information” about his case during the restraining order proceeding was held from him and his legal team, which motivated him to sue for defamation.
Bauer filed suit, contending the woman “fabricated allegations of sexual assault” and “made false and malicious statements” when she sought a domestic violence restraining order against him.
The woman countersued, claiming Bauer committed acts of violence during sex, including choking her until she lost consciousness. She also said that she woke up to him punching her between the legs in one instance and to him having non-consensual sex with her in another.
“The discovery process in that (defamation) lawsuit recently concluded, at which point (the woman’s) legal team again came to us with another proposal to resolve the case. This time, however, they weren’t seeking any money from me,” Bauer said. “Having received much of the information that had been hidden from us … I was willing to agree to the terms proposed. Both parties would drop their respective lawsuits, and neither of us would pay either side any money.”
Bauer, 32, now plays for the Yokohama BayStars in the Japanese Central League. He is free to pursue a return to the MLB in 2024 if he wishes.
“Over the last two years, I’ve been forced to defend my integrity and my reputation in a very public setting, but hopefully this is the last time I have to do so, as I prefer to just remain focused on doing my job: winning baseball games and entertaining fans around the world,” Bauer said. “So today, I’m happy to be moving on with my life.”
–Field Level Media
