Creative Artists Agency (CAA) failed to dismiss a lawsuit by actress Julia Ormond, who accused them of failing to inform her about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct record (per The Hollywood Reporter).
Ormond sued her ex-agency, Miramax, and Disney last year, claiming they ignored Weinstein’s crime after he assaulted her during a meeting. She alleged that her then-agents, Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huavane, even discouraged her from reporting to the police.
Judge Suzanne Adams refused to drop the case in a decision released on Monday. She said the allegations “suggest that CAA knew or had reason to know of a potential assault by Weinstein,” and possibly failed to protect Ormond.
A CAA spokesperson said in a statement, “[The agency] did not learn of Weinstein’s sexually assaultive behavior until it became public knowledge decades later. The claim that CAA should have warned Ms. Ormond about Weinstein’s criminal conduct in December 1995 defies logic.”
Ormond’s lawsuit also blamed Disney executives Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner for their alleged failure to supervise Weinstein to keep profits from the company’s deals with Miramax. The case didn’t name any of the individuals as defendants, though.
Disney tried to get the suit dismissed by arguing that the company was not responsible for Weinstein’s actions since it was not his employer. Judge Adams dismissed this defense, pointing out that the filmmaker reported directly to Eisner, who left oversight to other Disney executives, including Katzenberg.
