Judd had previously accused Weinstein of defaming her in 1998 after she refused what she said were his sexual advances a year earlier. In her lawsuit, which she filed in April 2018, the actress accused Weinstein of smearing her reputation by discouraging director Peter Jackson from casting her in his blockbuster movie franchise “The Lord of the Rings.”
READ MORE: Jennifer Lawrence Slams Harvey Weinstein for Claiming That She Had Sex With Him
Judd, one of the first women in October 2017 to publicly accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct, had accused the Hollywood producer of sexual harassment in violation of a California law barring such conduct by a person in a “business, service or professional relationship” with another.
US District Judge Philip Gutierrez said he was not determining whether Judd was sexually harassed by Weinstein “in the colloquial sense of the term.”
Gutierrez said that Judd’s relationship as an actress with the film producer was not covered under the California statute she had sued under.
“We have said from the beginning that this claim was unjustified, and we are pleased that the court saw it as we did. We believe that we will ultimately prevail on her remaining claims,” Weinstein’s lawyer, Phyllis Kupferstein, said in a statement.
In May, Weinstein will stand trial in New York on five charges, including rape allegations from two other women.
