Disney, Miramax sued for ‘enabling’ Harvey Weinstein in new assault claim

New York City: English actor Julia Ormond, who starred in 1990s films including Legends of the Fall and First Knight, has filed a lawsuit accusing Disney, Miramax and her former agency CAA of enabling producer Harvey Weinstein, whom she says sexually assaulted her.

In a case filed in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan under the Adult Survivors Act, Ormond is suing Weinstein for sexual battery. In a rare move, she also accuses The Walt Disney Co., Miramax and her former agents of knowing Weinstein presented a danger to women but did nothing to stop him or to help her.

Julia Ormond in Smilla’s Feeling For Snow.

Ormond says she was a star on the rise when she met Weinstein in 1994. She says she kept in touch with him to discuss scripts and projects, and in 1995 entered into a production agreement with Miramax, where he was co-chairman.

She accuses him of assaulting her in December 1995 after a business meeting, and then retaliating against her and negatively affecting her career after she confronted him weeks later. She says told her US agents at the time, CAA, but received no support and was advised not to take any legal action or other steps.

According to the filing, “none of these prominent companies warned Ormond that Weinstein had a history of assaulting women because he was too important, too powerful, and made them too much money”.

The lawsuit marks the first time Ormond has publicly accused Weinstein of sexual assault. Weinstein has been named as the defendant in several sexual assault lawsuits since The New York Times and New Yorker published details in 2017 of his predatory behaviour toward dozens of women, but it is rare for his business partners to also be named as defendants, for enabling him.

Legends Of The Fall with Brad Pitt and Julia Ormond.

Weinstein, 71, was convicted of rape and sexual assault in New York in 2020 and is serving a 23-year prison sentence. Last year, he was also convicted of another rape in Los Angeles, for which he was sentenced to a further 16 years. He has appealed both convictions.

Weinstein’s attorney Imran Ansari said his client “categorically denies the allegations made against him by Julia Ormond and he is prepared to vehemently defend himself”.

According toVariety, which has obtained the lawsuit filed on Wednesday (US EDT), Ormond claims that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 1995 after a business dinner when he lured her into giving him a massage, climbed on top of her, masturbated and forced her to give him oral sex.

“The men at CAA who represented Ormond knew about Weinstein. So too did Weinstein’s employers at Miramax and Disney,” Variety reports the lawsuit as stating.

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court in Los Angeles, in 2022.Credit: Etienne Laurent/Pool Photo via AP

“Brazenly, none of these prominent companies warned Ormond that Weinstein had a history of assaulting women because he was too important, too powerful, and made them too much money.”

Ormond told Variety she was speaking out in an effort to make workplaces safer. “I am coming forward with my story now publicly because I feel as if we still need systemic change, and I feel that we need accountability from enablers, in order to get there,” Ormond said. “I feel that this is what happened with me.

“I personally don’t believe that Harvey could have done this without enablers. And for me, that is the layer that you have to get down to, in terms of the root cause,” Ormond says.

Ormond is suing CAA for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. Miramax, the company that Weinstein co-founded with his brother Bob, and The Walt Disney Company, which owned Miramax in the 1990s, are being sued for negligent supervision and retention, according to Variety.

Emails seeking comment were sent to CAA, Disney and Miramax.

AP with staff reporters

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