Judd v. Weinstein

In late 1996 or early 1997, Ashley Judd (plaintiff), then a young actress just beginning her career, was invited by Harvey Weinstein (defendant), a powerful producer at Miramax, to a general business breakfast at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. When she arrived at the hotel, Judd was led to Weinstein’s private hotel room, where he asked her for a massage and then requested that she watch him shower. Judd refused both advances and quickly left after a brief, tense exchange. In 1997, director Peter Jackson and producer Fran Walsh began developing an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in conjunction with Miramax. In 1998, Jackson and Walsh met with Judd and expressed a clear intention to cast her in a major role. When they informed Weinstein of their interest, he characterized Judd as difficult to work with and urged them to avoid her. Trusting his statements, Jackson and Walsh removed Judd from consideration, and she was not cast in the films or in any of their subsequent projects—films that would go on to earn over $2.5 billion at the box office and multiple Academy Awards. In 2017, various media outlets reported allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein by numerous women, including Judd. Following these allegations, Jackson revealed in a media interview that he chose not to cast Judd in the Lord of the Rings films because of Weinstein’s statements about her professionalism. Judd filed suit against Weinstein for defamation, sexual harassment, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law. Weinstein removed the case to federal court and moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim.