LOS ANGELES (AP) – A federal appeals court wednesday restored much of Ashley Judd’s lawsuit opposed to Harvey Weinstein, noting that the manufacturer exerted force on the actor, allowing him to sue under a California sexual harassment law.
A three-pass ruling on the panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Judd would be allowed to pursue either side of his lawsuit against Weinstein. A small court dismissed his accusations of sexual harassment, but left his defamation complaint intact.
Judd filed a lawsuit in 2018, alleging that at an assembly at a Beverly Hills hotel in 1996 or early 1997, the manufacturer tried to force her to shower and massage her, and then defame her in Hollywood as a “nightmare.” paintings with him after rejecting him.
Judd’s lawyers had sued Weinstein for a California law that prohibits sexual harassment through individuals, other than employers, with pro-authority, adding teachers and owners.
The court agreed that the law can be applied to conditions like the one Judd faced when she dealt with Weinstein, but did not paint for him.
“Weinstein in an exclusive position to exert coercive force or influence on Judd, who was a young actress early in her career at the time of the alleged harassment,” U.S. District Judge Mary Murguia wrote in the notice. “Further, given Weinstein’s highly influential and ‘inevitable’ presence in the film industry, dating would have been difficult to end ‘without tangible traps’ for Judd, whose livelihood as an actor was defined in the selection of roles.”
Judd’s lawyers said when he filed a lawsuit he filed in a component to expand the use of the law to protect himself from predatory relations in Hollywood, and welcomed the resolution of the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday.
“This is a vital victory not only for Ms. Judd, but also for all victims of sexual harassment in business relationships,” Judd’s lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., said in a statement. “The court rightly believes that California law prohibits sexual harassment and retaliation through film makers and others in difficult positions, even outdoors in the work context, and we look forward to proceeding with this complaint against Mr. Weinstein in the trial.”
An email seeking comments from Weinstein’s lawyer, Phyllis Kupferman, was not fired without delay. Kupferman in the past said That Weinstein had not damaged Judd’s career, but had promoted it, approbing it for roles in two of his films.
The resolution comes two weeks after a New York City ruled on the rejection of a $19 million settlement between Weinstein and women who sued him for sexual misconduct. Judd was not involved in the proposed agreement.
The 52-year-old star of “Kiss The Girls” and “Double Jeopardy” among the women who told their Stories about Weinstein to the New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017, turning the #MeToo movement into a global phenomenon.
He sued Weinstein the following year after director Peter Jackson said in an interview that Weinstein had warned him to object to appearing with Judd when he introduced her to the Lord of the Rings films.
The trial ended until the end of the Trial for Weinstein’s Criminals in New York, where the 68-year-old manufacturer was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting two women. It faces similar rates in Los Angeles.
Weinstein has denied having engaged in sexual activities without consent.
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Follow AP Entertainment editor Andrew Dalton on Twitter: twitter.com/andyjamesdalton.