28 Sep Harvey Weinstein to face libel claim from Ashley Judd

A Judge in California has allowed actress and political activist Ashley Judd to proceed with a defamation claim against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The actress claims Weinstein made demands of her in a hotel room about 20 years ago.

Judd says she then lost the opportunity to be cast in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings after Weinstein or someone at Miramax told Jackson she was a “nightmare” to work with.

The actress claims those comments were defamatory of her and she only learned of them after Jackson referred to them in an interview in December 2017.

Weinstein denied the allegations and argued Judd’s claim was barred by the statute of limitations because she had a duty to investigate the alleged libel at the time and failed to do so.

However the Judge accepted it was plausible Judd would not have been able to learn about the alleged statements during the limitation period even if she had conducted a diligent investigation.

Judd’s attorney said: “We are very pleased that today the District Court held that Ashley Judd can proceed with her lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein and continue her effort to vindicate the wrongs he committed against her among so many other women.”

The legal woes of Weinstein, who has been charged with sexual assault in a separate criminal case in New York, continue to deepen.  He denies any wrongdoing.