In April, Judd filed a lawsuit against the producer, claiming he damaged her career in retaliation for rejecting his sexual advances.
Harvey Weinstein just got one of his claims dismissed.
ET confirms that Ashley Judd’s sexual harassment claim against the 66-year-old producer has been released.
Weinstein’s attorney, Phyllis Kupferstein told ET in a statement: “We have said from the beginning that this claim was unjustified, and we are pleased that the court saw it as we did. We believe that we will ultimately prevail on her remaining claims.”
The actress’ attorney, Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., also released a statement following the dismissal, which was first reported by TMZ on Wednesday.
“Nothing about today’s ruling changes that Ms. Judd’s case is moving forward on multiple claims,” the statement begins. “The court today dismissed only one of Ms. Judd’s four claims for relief. In doing so, it made clear that it was not determining whether Ms. Judd was sexually harassed in the colloquial sense of the term. It even acknowledged that the common meaning of the words in the statute would encompass her professional relationship with Mr. Weinstein. Nevertheless, the court ruled that the statute does not apply here. While we respectfully disagree with the court’s decision as to the one claim it ruled on today, we look forward to pursuing the three claims for relief that the court has already ruled can move forward.”
In April of 2018, the Berlin Station star filed a lawsuit against the producer, claiming that the former film mogul intentionally damaged her career in retaliation for rejecting his sexual advances.
In the lawsuit obtained by ET, at the time, which was filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judd claimed that Weinstein disparaged her to director Peter Jackson, which led to her not being cast in the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy. According to the actress, she was in talks to star as a major character in the film until, unbeknownst to her at the time, Weinstein allegedly shot down the idea, telling Jackson that she was a "nightmare" on set. A representative for Weinstein roundly denied Judd's claims.
Now almost nine months later, TMZ reports that a federal judge ruled Judd and Weinstein did not have a relationship that fell within the law, adding that a producer-actress relationship was not covered under the law. The law was changed in 2018 to cover such relationships, with the judge saying it couldn’t be applied retroactively, per the site. Judd can still litigate her defamation claim.
Just last month, however, another sexual assault case against the businessman moved forward. Judge James Burke ruled on Dec. 20, after a flurry of court papers in which Weinstein's lawyers said the case has devolved into chaos, and prosecutors argued there was ample evidence to move forward to trial.
For more on the case, watch below.
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