Runaways songwriter Kari Krome has reached a partial settlement of her lawsuit alleging she was groomed and sexually abused by late music producer Kim Fowley and former KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer starting in 1974 when she was 13 years old.
Krome has agreed to a conditional settlement with Fowley’s estate that would resolve her claims that Fowley dragged her into his bedroom by her ankle and sexually assaulted her one night while other teen members of The Runaways – the band she helped form – were asleep on his living room floor. She alleged Fowley assaulted her at least six more times over the following year, while she was between 14 and 15 years old and Fowley was at least 35.
Fowley, who died in 2015 at age 75, also was accused of sexually assaulting Runaways member Jackie Fuchs. In a Huffington Post article published after Fowley’s death, Fuchs said the music manager raped her on a motel bed while others watched. She had taken a Quaalude and felt immobilized, she said. Krome corroborated the account, saying she was only 14 at the time and didn’t know what to do. She also recounted her own allegations against Fowley in the same article.
A lawyer for Fowley’s estate did not return an email seeking comment on Tuesday. The details of the conditional settlement were not immediately clear. A hearing on the proposed pact is set for Jan. 14 in probate court.
Krome’s related civil claims against Bingenheimer, first filed in December 2022, remain ongoing. She alleges Bingenheimer used his power as the gatekeeper of a popular music venue on the Sunset Strip – Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco – to groom her. She says Bingenheimer lured her to his apartment under the pretext of friendship and sexually assaulted her for the first time when she was 13 and he was 28. She claims Bingenheimer continued to sexually assault her “multiple times over many months.”
Bingenheimer, 78, answered the lawsuit in February 2024, denying any wrongdoing. He later lost his lawyers due to non-payment of “substantial fees” and has been relying on alleged Hollywood “fixer” Brad Herman as his representative, according to court documents. In an amended complaint filed last month, Krome named Herman as a new co-defendant in her lawsuit, claiming he conspired with Bingenheimer to conceal the “fraudulent transfer” of a major asset to hide money from a possible future judgment.
Krome’s filings allege Herman became the trustee of Bingenheimer’s childhood home in Mountain View, Calif., in 2024, and that he subsequently used the property as collateral to obtain a $500,000 loan. Krome alleges Herman later sold the property in May 2025. According to online records, the sale price was nearly $1.7 million. According to Krome, Bingenheimer and Herman transferred the Santa Clara County home and sold it “with actual intent to hinder, delay, and/or defraud” Krome as she pursues damages. (Herman did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment.)
A month after the home sold, Herman allegedly told Krome’s lawyer that Bingenheimer was too ill to attend a noticed deposition. But weeks later, on July 9, 2025, Herman accompanied Bingenheimer to the memorial service for Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Krome’s amended complaint alleges. Less than a week after that, Bingenheimer failed to appear at his rescheduled deposition date. He’s now on the hook for more than $4,000 in sanctions.
Krome’s lawyer had no comment Tuesday on the conditional settlement with Fowley’s estate or the amended complaint naming Herman as a new co-defendant. A jury trial for the remainder of the case is set for March 30, 2026.
Meanwhile, with Krome’s lawsuit pending for the last three years, Bingenheimer has continued to host a weekly radio show for SiriusXM’s Underground Garage channel, a gig he’s had since his Rodney on the Roq show on L.A.’s KROQ, which lasted from 1976 to 2017, ended its run.
While Herman was the subject of a positive profile in The Hollywood Reporter in 2022, he later faced accusations of elder abuse involving Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee and former Supremes singer Cindy Birdsong. After Lee died in 2018, his daughter, J.C. Lee, accused Herman of once sneaking into her dad’s house while he was ailing. She also accused him of forging her father’s signature on loan documents. The two traded defamation lawsuits that ended with one judge dismissing Herman’s complaint against Lee, calling her statements “good faith” opinion, and a court clerk ordering Herman to pay Lee $100,436 in a default judgment because he failed to meet court deadlines.
In the Birdsong case, Herman was accused of elder abuse by Birdsong’s son, Charles Hewlett. In a petition filed April 3, 2024, Hewlett alleged that Herman took advantage of his mom while she was confined to a bed, on a feeding tube, and “completely unable to manage her medical and financial affairs.” The filing accused Herman of withdrawing “large sums of money” from her accounts without explanation. It claimed Herman withdrew $131,114 in 2021, and another $101,293 in 2022. In a response filing, Herman blasted the allegations, calling them false and without merit. In an interview with The New York Times, Herman said he was “committed to making certain that Ms. Birdsong’s estate receives all that is due.”
In a filing last November, Hewlett’s lawyer said that after a year of investigation, her client decided to withdraw his elder abuse petition against Herman. She did not elaborate, other than to say that “a lengthy and expensive court trial was avoided, resulting in significant savings for the conservatee’s estate.”
In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone in 2023, Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin also alleged that Bingenheimer assaulted her. She alleged Bingenheimer isolated her in a dark room in the back of his Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco around 1974 and rubbed his crotch against her repeatedly until he ejaculated on her clothes. She was 15 while he would have been around 27, she said. Bingenheimer did not respond to a detailed list of questions sent by Rolling Stone.
