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Armie Hammer restraining order tossed in Pitkin County Court after parties fail to appear

The latest accusation of misconduct against embattled actor Armie Hammer resulted in a dismissal of a temporary restraining order after parties on both sides were no-shows for Wednesday’s scheduled hearing at Pitkin County Court.

After waiting nearly 15 minutes and calling out multiple times for the plaintiff, 26, and Hammer, 36 — both of whom were permitted to appear virtually via WebEx — Judge Ashley Andrews dismissed the case without prejudice. The court, however, could permit the plaintiff to file another civil protection order against Hammer in the future.

Judge Andrews said that because she did not see that Hammer had been served his summons to appear in court and the plaintiff was aware of the date and time of the hearing based on her last appearance in court, she would dismiss the temporary protection order. 



The hearing to determine the future of the temporary civil protection order against Hammer drew multiple members of the press who tuned in via WebEx, plus other observers. In the courtroom, only two members of the press, including The Aspen Times, were present. 

Hammer’s attorney is Hollywood entertainment lawyer Andrew Brettler, who has also represented other high-profile celebrities accused of sexual misconduct like Chris Noth, Bryan Singer, Tiffany Haddish, and Prince Andrew, according to reporting from Variety and Newsweek.




He provided a statement via email to The Times: “Mr. Hammer was never served with any court papers. As such, he was not required to appear. … Armie does not know the person who filed the suit, has never heard of her, and was in Los Angeles on the day when the alleged incident supposedly occurred in New York City. We have photographs of him in L.A. on the date in question.”

Brettler did not respond to a request provide the photos. 

The plaintiff, whose name The Times is not publishing due to the practice to not print names of alleged victims of sexual assault, filed a complaint for a civil protection order on Feb. 1. She is either a resident of or employed within Pitkin County, according to the complaint.

In the complaint, the plaintiff wrote: “Armie Hammer choked me during sexual intercourse that led me to lose consciousness back on 9/1/22 in New York City. This came after a series of sexual encounters between him and I over time the violent behavior got worse, but this was the first time where I had felt that it went entirely too far because I begged for him to stop and deployed our safeword and tapped him on his shoulder as we agreed, in situations situations where it was too much for one of us. Armie was also heavily intoxicated and under the influence of molly, alcohol and ketamine at the time. On 1/27/2023 Armie contacted me after months without contact and I would like for the contact to stop.”

It is unclear why she did not appear for the hearing. She did not list an attorney on the court filing and requested to have her contact information redacted from the protection order, which the court granted.

One observer on WebEx was “Effie,” the @houseofeffie Instagram user who first published screenshots of explicit messages that appeared to be from Hammer in January 2021. The Times is also not using her real name as she, too, is an alleged victim of sexual assault. 

“I think Armie has ways of preventing his victims from testifying against him in court,” Effie said in an Instagram message to the Times. 

The messages she published two years ago — which displayed an apparent vore fetish from Hammer, or the sexual attraction to consuming someone or being consumed —  launched his downfall.

At least four women accused him of sexual misconduct in the past two years. Multiple film projects dropped Hammer in 2021, as well as talent agency William Morris Endeavor. 

On March 18, 2021, Effie accused Hammer of rape, and the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed he was a suspect in a sexual-assault case opened in February 2021. In an email statement to The Times, LAPD wrote: “As of 2/6/23, the Armie Hammer (investigation) is still ongoing.”

In January 2021, Courtney Vucekovich, a beauty-app developer, told the Daily Mail that Hammer had manipulated her into a BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism) “master-slave” relationship.

And in January 2021, influencer Paige Lorenze told the New York Post’s Page Six that Hammer, among other acts, wanted to “consume her” and eat one of her ribs, which could be considered an expression of vore fetishism. 

Additionally, in April 2021, artist Julia Morrison told the Daily Beast that she planned to sell the screenshots of the explicit messages as non-fungible tokens. In the messages, Hammer and Morrison discuss a “master-slave” type relationship, which falls under BDSM practice. 

In the BDSM community, consent and the honoring of safewords is paramount. Hammer’s accusers allege that they felt pressured into consenting to intense sexual acts with the famous actor who comes from a wealthy, powerful family.

This case also comes almost two weeks after he gave his first interview following the implosion of his career and separation from BIRD Bakery founder Elizabeth Chambers. 

Reporting from multiple outlets states Chambers filed for divorce in July 2020, but the divorce has yet to be finalized. 

In the exclusive interview with Air Mail, Hammer insisted that all sexual acts with partners were consensual, and that he entered rehab for drug and alcohol abuse in May 2021. The article also points out some apparent discrepancies in Effie’s claims and quotes supporters of Hammer, like “Call Me by Your Name” producer Howard Rosenman. 

In the article, Hammer likens himself to a hero who “must die so the hero can be reborn again.”

The saga is laid out in the 2022 docuseries “House of Hammer” on Discovery Plus. 

He and his attorneys have vehemently denied any wrongdoing by Hammer and insist all sexual acts with all partners were consensual.

Correction: This article previously stated that the LAPD investigation against Hammer concluded in 2021. The investigation is still ongoing. The article is updated to reflect that change.