Julia Ormond sues Disney, Miramax, and CAA in Harvey Weinstein sexual assault suit

Julia Ormond—the actor best known for starring in films like First Knight and Smilla’s Sense Of Snow, and, more recently, as one of the stars of Walking Dead spin-off World Beyond—has issued a new lawsuit this week, with a familiar target: Film producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein, who Ormond says sexually assaulted her in 1995.

In addition to Weinstein—who’s currently on year three of what’s set to be a 39 year prison sentence for multiple counts of rape, sexual assault, and other sexual misconduct—Ormond is also suing The Walt Disney Company, Miramax, and Hollywood agency CAA. The latter was representing Ormond at the time of the alleged assault, and reportedly told her to keep it quiet for fear of retribution from the powerful Weinstein.

Per Variety, Ormond’s suit states that Weinstein’s assault followed a pattern familiar to anyone who’s read up on the charges against him: A business dinner transitioned into a request for a massage, after which Weinstein “climbed on top of her, masturbated, and forced her to give him oral sex.” Ormond says that, in the aftermath, she informed her agents, Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane (who now serve as co-chairmen of CAA), about what had happened; she says the pair “cautioned her from speaking out and did not protect her.”

Ormond is suing CAA for negligence and breach of fiduciary conduct, and the formerly Weinstein-run Miramax (and its owners at Disney) for negligent supervision, with her lawyers writing in the suit that “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.”

In a statement to Variety, Ormond says her hope with the lawsuit (made possible through recent California laws that massively extend the statute of limitations for civil cases related to sexual assault) is to target “enablers.” “Obviously, Harvey Weinstein is in jail and is going to be in jail for a very long time,” Ormond said. “I personally don’t believe that Harvey could have done this without enablers. And for me, that is the layer that you have to get down to, in terms of the root cause.” Ormond says that she first told her family about the assault at the height of the #MeToo movement, and came forward publicly now because “I feel as if we still need systemic change.”

Weinstein has denied Ormond’s allegations.