Actress Julia Ormond filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Harvey Weinstein, Disney and CAA. Per court documents received by TheWrap, the lawsuit alleged Weinstein sexually assaulted Ormond in 1995 and that Disney and CAA failed to protect her.
The complaint claimed that former Hollywood mogul Weinstein forced himself on the actress for oral sex. Moreover, the suit alleged that CAA and the Walt Disney Company, which owned Weinstein’s Miramax from 1993 to 2010, knew of the now-imprisoned producer’s predatory behavior and did nothing to protect her.
The suit marked a rare instance of the mogul’s business partners being held as complicit in Weinstein’s behavior. It specifically stated that the “sexual assault on Ormond could have been prevented if Miramax or Disney had properly supervised Weinstein and not retained him while knowing that he was a danger to the women he encountered at work.”
Ormand claimed in the suit that her agents at CAA persuaded her against taking legal action at the time of the incidents to avoid potential retaliation from Weinstein. While the alleged battery occurred over 30 years ago, New York’s Adult Survivors Act still allows Ormand to bring civil torts related to the incident.
The suit for battery against Weinstein, along with negligent supervision and retention against Miramax and Disney plus negligence and breach of fiduciary duty against CAA also claimed that Weinstein did retaliate and that Miramax terminated Ormond’s contract. Additional, the suit alleged that CAA transferred the actress, who broke out in the early 1990s with “Legends of the Fall,” “First Knight” and “Sabrina,” to a younger and less experienced agent and ceased to advocate on her behalf.
The complaint stated, “With the exception of some television
movies, over the next several years, Ormond nearly disappeared from the public eye. Her earnings for each film — which had reached a high of $3.5 million — dramatically declined.”
Reps at The Walt Disney Company and CAA have thus far not responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Harvey Weinstein, aged 74, is currently serving a 16-year sentence for rape and other sex crimes in Los Angeles. He was previously sentenced to 23 years for other rape and sex crimes in New York.
The complaint does not name the actress’s then-agents Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane, nor does it name then-Disney executives Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner.
Variety was the first to report this story.
Pamela Chelin contributed reporting to this article.
