Ashley Judd’s suit against Harvey Weinstein dismissed, maybe she should have started MeToo sooner
A federal judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday dismissed actress Ashley Judd’s sexual harassment claim against movie producer Harvey Weinstein but said she could proceed with a defamation claim against him.
U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez dismissed Judd’s sexual harassment case against the movie mogul, stating in the ruling that Judd’s legal team had “not adequately alleged that her relationship with Defendant was covered by the statute.”
Gutierrez said he was not determining whether Judd was sexually harassed by Weinstein “in the colloquial sense of the term.”
But Gutierrez ruled Judd could move forward with her defamation case against Weinstein, in which she claims he derailed her career after she denied his alleged sexual advances in the 1990s.
The Double Jeopardy actress accused Weinstein of smearing her reputation by discouraging director Peter Jackson from casting her in his blockbuster movie franchise The Lord of the Rings.
“Nothing about today’s ruling changes that Ms. Judd’s case is moving forward on multiple claims,” Boutrous said in a statement late Wednesday.
“We look forward to pursuing the three claims for relief that the Court has already ruled can move forward,” he also said.
Weinstein is to stand trial in May in New York on five charges, including rape, involving two other women.
The decades old allegations Judd alleges have outlived the statue of limitations. Judd’s status in Hollywood could have warranted a move sooner, but the actress stepped forward after the #MeToo movement to root during the last 18 months or so.
Ashley Judd in “Divergent”
