Disney vows to "vigorously" fight Paz de la Huerta's Weinstein lawsuit
Actress Paz de la Huerta is adding The Walt Disney Company, its CEO Bob Iger, and its former chairman Michael Eisner, to her sexual assault lawsuit she first filed against former Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein almost a year ago.
“Defendant Robert A. Iger has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of The Walt Disney Company from 2000 to present and has served as Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company from 2005 to present,” says the legal docs filed Tuesday in a Los Angeles court according to reporting by Deadline.com.
The actress and her attorneys made the addition to the suit because, according to the new legal papers, “Iger made a series of decisions that allowed a range of actions by Harvey Weinstein that unacceptably harmed certain employees of Miramax.”
Disney plans to fight these allegations. “The Weinsteins operated and managed their business with virtual autonomy. There is absolutely no legal basis for claims against the company and we will defend against them vigorously,” the company said in a statement released to Fox Business.
“Following the departure of Harvey Weinstein and Robert Weinstein from their positions as executives of Miramax in 2005, Iger made no effort to identify or remediate harms by Harvey Weinstein to current or former employees of Disney-Miramax,” say the attorneys of Tensor Law who represent de la Huerta, according to reporting by Deadline. De la Huerta is seeking $60 million in damages.
FoxBusiness.com has also reached out to Michael Eisner and has received no response at the time of publication of this story.
The suit stems from Weinstein’s predatory behavior towards the actress following their meeting during the filming of, “The Cider House Rules.” Paz de la Huerta starred in the film produced by Miramax which was run by Weinstein but owned by Disney at the time. Eisner was then the chairman of Disney.
More than a decade later, in December 2010, de la Huerta says she and Weinstein were at a party for the premiere of Blue Valentine in New York City. She claims he offered her a ride home, because they lived near each other in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood, and afterward the movie executive insisted on coming up to her apartment. That's when de la Huerta claims, he threatened to harm her career if she didn't have sex with him and then proceeded to rape her.
There was another alleged incident in 2011 where the actress was given a note that asked her to go to Weinstein's room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. De la Huerta went to the room, she claims Weinstein opened the door in a bathrobe and offered her a "threesome" with another woman who was in the room. She claims Weinstein became angry when she told him to leave her alone and she left.
The next day, she attended a Golden Globes afterparty -- held by Weinstein's company -- where she says her emotions forced her to drink excessively and a video captured her falling down. The video went viral which she says caused her additional emotional distress.
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The Weinstein Company, the film studio Weinstein and his brother created after leaving Disney was also named in the original suit as was the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles for intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims