Anti-Flag legal update – corporate lawsuit is dismissed but the frontman’s case moves forward

Anti-Flag disbanded in 2023 after leader Justin Sane (real name Justin Geever) was accused of sexual assault by twelve different women. Kristina Sarhadi, one of the Geever accusers, then sued Anti-Flag‘s company, Hardwork Distribution Inc., alleging that the band was negligent and caused emotional distress. Geever was also accused of assault, battery, including sexual battery, and intentional infliction. Chris Head, Chris No. 2 (Chris Barker), and Pat Thetic (Patrick Bollinger), members of Anti-Flag, own Hardwork Distribution Inc. Sarhadi’s claim against Hardwork Distribution Inc. has now been dismissed by New York Judge Brenda K. Sannes, who ruled on December 18 that there are no demonstrable connections between Geever’s acts and the corporation.

Because the first amended complaint has even fewer allegations regarding Hardwork, Hardwork’s motion to dismiss is granted, Lawsuit

Sarhadi’s lawsuit against Geever is still pending. The decision is available here in full. Geever may have departed the nation in early 2024, as he has not replied to the complaint. Sarhadi’s complaint was brought under the Adult Survivors Act of New York, which was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022 and gives survivors of sexual assault who were over the age of 18 a year to file a lawsuit against their perpetrators, regardless of when the abuse took place. In July 2023, Sarhadi first made accusations against Geever on an Enough podcast episode. When Sarhadi was 22, Geever allegedly sexually abused her in October 2010.

It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. I can’t stress how violent he was and how much I fully believed I was going to die, that he was going to kill me.