Actress Julia Ormond Sues Disney, Others over Weinstein Assault
Emmy Award-winning actress Julia Ormond is suing Disney, CAA, and Miramax over an alleged incident with disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
Specifically, Ormond’s lawsuit claims that Disney knowingly overlooked the predatory actions of Weinstein, who has since been imprisoned for sex crimes.
Weinstein, the former head of Miramax and then The Weinstein Company, is currently serving 23 years in prison for two felonious assaults.
Once the 71-year-old producer finishes that prison sentence, presuming he lives that long, he’ll serve another 16 years in California.
Effectively, the sexual predator will spend the rest of his life behind bars, as he should.
More than 80 women have come forward with accusations of harassment and/or sexual assault against Weinstein.
About the Lawsuit
Ormond, a popular and acclaimed actress during the 1990s, has sued due to an attack that occurred nearly 30 years ago.
You can read the filing here, but the most pertinent part is this:
“By the mid-1990s, Julia Ormond had secured multiple leading roles in major films, acting opposite some of the most famous actors in the world.
She was featured in leading newspapers and magazines. She had representation from the most influential talent agents at CAA.
And with the help of those agents, she signed a film production deal with Miramax, the prominent studio owned by Disney, which had made some of the most significant films of the era.”
What Ormond did not know is that Miramax’s Co-chairman, Harvey Weinstein, was a sexual predator.
(He) systematically targeted the women actors he encountered, whether they were trying to break into the film business or, like Ormond, had already enjoyed great success.
But the men at CAA who represented Ormond knew about Weinstein. So too did Weinstein’s employers at Miramax and Disney.
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.”
About Disney’s Liability
Obviously, this lawsuit dates back to the 1990s, which means that none of the parties involved with the incident work at Disney now.
As the lawsuit acknowledges, Disney owned Miramax at the time and continued to do so until 2010.
Eventually, the Weinstein brothers left Miramax to found their own company, The Weinstein Company, which wasn’t involved with Disney in any way.
The alleged assault occurred in 1995. Ormond specifically claims that Disney executives were aware of Weinstein’s predatory behavior at the time.
The Adult Survivors Act entitles Ormond, a British native and resident, to sue in the state of New York where the incident happened.
The actress is suing her agency at the time, CAA, for talking her out of taking legal action.
Her representatives believed Weinstein was too powerful, and such an action would prove detrimental to her career as well as CAA itself.
Notably, once Ormond discussed the attack with others, Weinstein punished her at the time by terminating her newly signed Miramax contract.
Ormond further alleges that CAA also switched her representation to an inexperienced agent and stopped referring her for work.
From a legal perspective, Disney’s part of this lawsuit will likely be the most challenging to prove.
Still, the entire Hollywood studio system has wronged Ormond, and she deserves her day in court to face those who failed her.