An appeals court ruled on Wednesday that Ashley Judd can file a sexual harassment lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein, and discovered that he had power over his career when he invited her to his room at the Peninsula Hotel in the mid-1990s.
The three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court, which had dismissed the claim on the grounds that Judd was not Weinstein’s employee at the time of the meeting.
“The (T) heir’s relationship consisted of an inherent power imbalance in which Weinstein was in a unique position to exercise coercion or influence over Judd by virtue of his professional position and influence as a top producer in Hollywood,” wrote Judge Mary. H. Murguia, for the panel. “Therefore, the district court erred when it dismissed Judd’s claim of sexual harassment.”
Judd sued Weinstein in April 2018. He alleged that Weinstein had lured her into his hotel room, asked him to watch him shower, and attempted to massage him. She also sued for defamation and retaliation, claiming that after rejecting her advances, Weinstein placed her on the film industry’s blacklist.
She brought the lawsuit after “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson revealed in an interview that Miramax had discouraged him from choosing Judd and Mira Sorvino, saying they could be a “nightmare to work.”
Judge Philip Gutiérrez allowed Judd to proceed with the retaliation and defamation claims, but dismissed the harassment claim alleging that California law did not cover a producer and actress who did not have an active employment relationship. The law has been modified to explicitly cover producers and actors.
But in its ruling, the three-judge panel held that the producer-actor relationship has a power imbalance similar to the relationships listed in the statute at the time, such as teacher-student and owner-tenant relationships.
“That is, by virtue of his professional position and influence as a leading producer in Hollywood, Weinstein was in a unique position to exercise coercive power or influence over Judd, who was a young actor early in his career at the time of the alleged harassment.” Murguia wrote. “Furthermore, given Weinstein’s highly influential and ‘inevitable’ presence in the film industry, the relationship would have been difficult to end ‘without tangible difficulties’ for Judd, whose livelihood as an actor depended on being cast for the roles.”
The case will now go back to the lower court and proceed with all claims.
Theodore Boutrous, who represents Judd in the case, praised the ruling.
“This is an important victory not only for Ms. Judd but for all victims of sexual harassment in professional relationships,” Boutrous said in a statement. “The court correctly maintains that California law prohibits sexual harassment and retaliation by film producers and others in powerful positions, including outside of the workplace context, and we look forward to continuing this claim against Mr. Weinstein at trial” .
