Federal District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York said he rejected the agreement because the settlement seeks to create a class action lawsuit that covers the claims of women who have asked to be excluded from an agreement. He said the proposal unfairly grouped the women who had just met Weinstein with those who had been sexually assaulted through him.
“Not all were captured in the same way, ” said Hellerstein. “Their regulations would create inequality among all these people.”
The deal was negotiated with the help of New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of a broader proposal to liquidate Weinstein Co. and its parent company, which last year reached a $46.8 million deal for all claims arising from Weinstein’s conduct.
Lawyers for the women who withdrew from the agreement praised Hellerstein’s decision. They had criticized the deal, saying that he overpaid the lawyers and those who suffered poorly, while forcing Weinstein not to pay anything.
“Abusive” conditions
“We have been saying for over a year and part that the terms and situations of the agreement were unfair and would never be imposed on survivors of sexual assault,” said Douglas Wigdor, who represents six women who record legal cases of abuse opposed to Weinstein. . “On the part of our customers, we look forward to prosecuting Harvey Weinstein and his many facilitators.”
The women who accepted the proposed agreement, actresses and screenwriters, sued the film mogul in December 2017, claiming that their eponymous company, its executives and directors, and Miramax, the studio she once directed, had allowed for their predatory conduct. The remaining defendant in the case is Weinstein, after others have won layoffs.
“We have long argued that we will have to do justice for all the women Weinstein was attacking in a fair and equitable manner,” Elizabeth Fegan and Steve Berman, lawyers for the women who supported the agreement, said in a statement. “Now we want to focus on our clients’ individual litigation.”
Fegan and Berman said they would appeal a previous court rejection of court cases opposed to Weinstein Co.’s board of directors, who said they knew Weinstein’s habit and did nothing to prevent it.
“They deserve to be held accountable for their silence and inaction,” the lawyers said. “The brave women who resisted Weinstein and presented this action deserve our admiration, and we will continue to fight on their behalf.”
Weinstein is lately serving a 23-year sentence in maximum security at New York heights after his trial sentence this year.
The case is Geiss v. Weinstein, 17-cv-9554, United States District Court, Southern District of New York.
Photo Above: Harvey Weinstein, center, leaves the New York State Supreme Court on January 27.
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