( CNN ) -- Three sex abuse lawsuits against the man who once voiced `` Sesame Street 's '' Elmo character have been dismissed by a federal appeals court . The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals made its ruling April 2 in the case of puppeteer Kevin Clash , who resigned from his job after allegations first surfaced in November 2012 . The ruling agrees with a lower court 's decision that the accusers waited too long to file their suits . The appellate court 's decision on the three New York lawsuits does not cover a separate lawsuit , filed in Pennsylvania last year , by Clash 's first public accuser . No resolution of the Pennsylvania case has been announced . CNN 's attempt to contact Clash 's attorney for comment Thursday was n't immediately successful . A district judge had dismissed the New York suits last July , ruling that the statute of limitations -- which requires a filing within six years of the alleged crime or three years after the plaintiffs turned 18 -- had run out . The plaintiffs -- all adult men who said they were courted and seduced by Clash when they were underage teenagers -- appealed , arguing the six-year rule should have applied from 2012 . That , they contended , was the year they realized they 'd been harmed . The appellate court ruled that the lower court properly dismissed the suits `` given that the plaintiffs ' complaints failed to provide any reason why the plaintiffs were unable to discover their injuries prior to 2012 . '' Clash provided the high-pitched voice of the iconic furry red Elmo from 1984 until 2012 , when Sheldon Stephens became the first to publicly claim that he had a sexual relationship with Clash as a teen . Stephens called it an `` adult consensual relationship '' in November 2012 , but filed the Pennsylvania lawsuit in March 2013 alleging Clash threw a crystal meth sex party for him in 2004 , when he was 16 . Stephens ' attorney was not immediately available for comment Thursday . Clash acknowledged a relationship between `` two consenting adults '' when Stephens ' story initially emerged , but he said it otherwise was a `` false and defamatory allegation . '' `` I am a gay man , '' Clash , 53 , said in a statement in November 2012 . `` I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it , but felt it was a personal and private matter . '' That month , Clash issued a written statement saying : `` I am resigning from Sesame Workshop with a very heavy heart . I have loved every day of my 28 years working for this exceptional organization . Personal matters have diverted attention away from the important work Sesame Street is doing and I can not allow it to go on any longer . I am deeply sorry to be leaving and am looking forward to resolving these personal matters privately . '' Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind `` Sesame Street . '' CNN 's Alan Duke contributed to this report .
An appellate court rules statute of limitations had expired . The court agrees with a lower court 's 2013 ruling . Accusers alleged former Elmo puppeteer The Clash seduced them as underage teens .