CAA Says Julia Ormond’s Harvey Weinstein Lawsuit ‘Places Blame on the Wrong Defendant’ in Court Filing
CAA and Disney have filed motions to dismiss lawsuits filed against them by Julia Ormond, who has accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1995 and the two companies of enabling his abuse.
In the lawsuit filed in October, Ormond accused CAA, which represented her at the time of the alleged assault, and Disney, which owned Weinstein’s film company Miramax, of failing to warn her of the convicted producer’s history of abuse because he was “too important, too powerful and made them too much money.”
To support their argument, Ormand’s attorney’s cited a 2017 New York Times article which reported that actress Mia Kershner warned her CAA agents after Weinstein sexually propositioned her in a hotel room in 1994.
In court filings obtained by TheWrap, CAA’s attorneys asserted that the agency was not aware of Weinstein’s abuse at the time of Ormond’s alleged assault. The agency also claimed there was no evidence that Kershner or her agents ever warned anyone else at CAA, including Ormond’s agents Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane.
“Neither the Complaint nor the underlying news article asserts that Weinstein engaged in conduct other than verbally propositioning Kirshner, and neither source alleges that Kirshner’s interaction with Weinstein involved any physical contact, much less sexual assault,” CAA’s dismissal motion read.
“CAA had no reason to believe there was any risk to Plaintiff in arranging a business dinner with Weinstein,” the company argued. “In suing CAA, Plaintiff places blame on the wrong defendant.”
Weinstein, 71, is currently serving consecutive prison sentences of 23 years and 16 years for separate sexual assault charges in New York and Los Angeles. He has denied Ormond’s allegations.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report
The post CAA Says Julia Ormond’s Harvey Weinstein Lawsuit ‘Places Blame on the Wrong Defendant’ in Court Filing appeared first on TheWrap.
