Singer Files Motion to Dismiss Sex Abuse Suit

With X-Men: Days of Future Past opening nationwide tomorrow night, director Bryan Singer has filed a motion to dismiss the sexual abuse suit bought by Michael Egan, who claimed the director abused him in 1999 in Hawaii.

Singer has said that he wasn't in Hawaii during the time when the assaults are alleged to have taken place. He also claims that the timing of the suit was designed to cause maximum disruption just as his much-anticipated movie, starring Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence, was being released.

Egan, who came to Hollywood from Nebraska as a 15-year old has described a culture in which young actors were plied with booze and drug and taken advantage of sexually. Along with two co-plaintiffs, he won a $4.5m suit in 2000 against three men he claimed sexually abused him at a mansion in Encino when he was 17. His new suit identifies four men, including Singer, one of Hollywood' most successful directors, as well as former NBC and WB executive Garth Ancier; former president of Walt Disney Television, David Neuman; and Gary Goddard, who chairs an entertainment design company. All deny the allegations.

In 2006 Egan also tried to sue his brother, Jason Egan, claiming he was declining to share profits in a haunted house company the two men had set up in Las Vegas. That case was dismissed in 2008.

Singer, who was profiled in Out's June/July double issue has since taken a low profile, absenting himself from promotional events for the movie, and sticking by a single statement in which he refuted Egan's cliams.