By Aaron Miller-
Ashley Judd has a hot claim of defamation against Harvey Weinstein heading for the courts in 2020The Double Jeopardy star launched the hot legal action in April , in which she accused the disgraced producer of blacklisting her and sabotaging her career for refusing his sexual advances. He denies the claim.
In her suit, she referred to comments made by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson late last year when he confessed to dropping Judd from casting consideration for his 2001 fantasy blockbuster. She says he discriminated against her based on remarks Weinstein had allegedly made about her lack of professionalism. Judd says the remarks were defamatory and that his words damaged her career prospects. If successful, Weinstein will be liable to pay her millions of dollars in damages.
Sexual discrimination is widespread in many industries, it is the basis on which many powerful men condition high female aspirants to end up in their bed. Those who don’t comply have often suffered the consequence of none compliance, or been made to comply by being spiked like many of the vitims of shamed comedian Bill Cosby did.
Weinston typically denies the claim, but will be required in court to clearly state the grounds on which he gave the negative recommendation he gave about Judd that blighted her chances for the film role. If he cannot justify his position, he will loose the case.
BLOCK
Weinston attempted to block the defamation claim, but his bid was blocked by Judge Philip Gutierrez, who shut down Weinstein’s bid and allowed Judd to continue with her defamation and interference case. And now the judge has scheduled the trial to start in January, 2020. He has also set up a court-orchestrated mediation session next month. He rejected her claim of sexual harassment in the work place.
The trial is expected to last two weeks, but has an 18 month wait. “We intend to move quickly to discovery and trial on behalf of Ms. Judd and look forward to proving Mr. Weinstein’s outrageous conduct,” Judd’s lawyer Theodore Boutrous of Gibson Dunn tells Deadline.
Weinstein’s legal challenges are daunting for him if he is truly innocent. He faces multiple criminal charges for sexual assault in New York and Los Angeles following a series of allegations in which he was accused of sexual misconduct from over 50 women, including Judd. He has denied all allegations.