Actress Ashley Judd, one of the first women to come forward to accuse disgraced megaproducer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, filed a lawsuit against him in April 2018 that included multiple claims. On Wednesday, a federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed her sexual harassment claim, but said she could proceed with a defamation case.
In the lawsuit, Judd accused Weinstein of smearing her reputation in 1998 after she says she refused his sexual advances in a hotel room a couple of years earlier. The producer deliberately torpedoed her potential role in “Lord of the Rings” by discouraging director Peter Jackson from casting her, she says.
Citing California law prohibiting harassing sexual advances “in a business, service or professional relationship,” Judd sued Weinstein for sexual harassment and defamation. On Wednesday, the judge threw out the harassment claim, saying it wasn’t covered under California statutes.
“U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled that Judd’s relationship as an actress with the Hollywood producer was not covered under California law, nor under a 2019 amendment,” Reuters reports. Gutierrez noted in the decision that he was not ruling on whether or not Weinstein sexually harassed Judd “in the colloquial sense of the term,” the news agency notes.
Despite tossing out the harassment claim, Judge Gutierrez gave Judd the greenlight on moving forward with a civil lawsuit on her defamation claim. – READ MORE