The american actress Ashley Judd can finally sue them for sexual harassment producer fallen Harvey Weinstein.
Share
July 29, 2020 19h17
Share
Ashley Judd allowed to continue with Harvey Weinstein for sexual harassment
AFP
Agence France-Presse
LOS ANGELES — american actress Ashley Judd can finally sue them for sexual harassment producer fallen Harvey Weinstein, whom she accuses of having ruined his career for having resisted his advances, held Wednesday, a California court of appeal.
In the first instance, a federal judge in Los Angeles had estimated in January 2019 that sexual harassment was not applicable in the case of the actress, that he had, however, at the time authorized to initiate further civil.
Ashley Judd, 52 years old, was one of the first to have broken the silence on the machinations of Harvey Weinstein, who is accused of harassment, sexual assault, or rape by more than 80 women, including stars such as Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow or Léa Seydoux.
The magnate fallen has been sentenced in the spring to New York and sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. In the framework of different procedures open to Los Angeles, he is also accused by three women of similar crimes committed in California.
In a complaint filed in April 2018, Ashley Judd says that Mr. Weinstein has destroyed his chances of showing up in the fantastical trilogy, Peter Jackson’s the Lord of The rings, one of the most lucrative in the history of cinema, telling the director and her team that working with the actress was “a nightmare”. Assertions that Peter Jackson has publicly confirmed in interviews.
“With these attacks without basis, Mr. Weinstein has managed to register Ms. Judd on a black list and put an end to it with the possibility of working on what has become a series of films generating billions of dollars and 17 academy awards,” says the complaint.
Ashley Judd is said to have been punished for “having rejected his sexual advances a year earlier (in 1997), when he was stuck in his hotel room under the pretext of talking business”.
“Never sought revenge”
In the first instance, the judge of Los Angeles had held that the law in force at the time on the sexual harassment did not apply to the relations between actors and producers. Of course it has since been modified to include producers and directors, but is not retroactive, had he tried.
The court of appeal brought by the actress, has estimated that the balance of power between Harvey Weinstein and Ashley Judd was in favour of the former, and “allowed him to exert pressure on Ms. Judd with his professional position and his influence as a big Hollywood producer”.
The judges have referred the case to the federal court in Los Angeles.
The lawyer Harvey Weinstein, Phyllis Kupferstein, told AFP that she was eagerly waiting for this trial to “shed light” on this folder.
“The details of the investigation will show that Mr. Weinstein has neither defamed Mrs. Judd, nor hurt his career, and certainly never sought revenge for it,” said the lawyer, in a press release, arguing that his client had “no authority” on the project of Lord of the rings.
The defender Ashley Judd, Theodore Boutrous, Jr., will is on his side welcomed the decision of the court of appeal of california, proof to him that the law prohibits sexual harassment, even outside of the professional relationship classic.
In its complaint, Ashley Judd claims punitive damages of an unspecified amount and is committed to pay them over to organizations that defend victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Harvey Weinstein has denied any harassment, or sexual intercourse non-consensual.
