CRKL partner Effie Blassberger recently spoke with the U.S. edition of The Sun, concerning her client, actress Julie Ormond, who has brought a case against Harvey Weinstein, her agency at the time, Creative Artists Agency (“CAA”), Miramax, and its then parent company, The Walt Disney Company.
The lawsuit, which was filed in October by Blassberger and CRKL partner Isabelle Kirshner under New York State’s Adult Survivors Act, accuses Weinstein of sexually assaulting Ormond in 1995 after a business dinner. As part of the lawsuit, Ormond is suing CAA for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.
According to the complaint, after the assault, Ormond informed her agents at CAA about what happened with Weinstein. Both agents cautioned Ormond about speaking out and took no action to protect her. Ormond has also sued Miramax and Walt Disney Company for negligent supervision and retention.
In speaking to the publication, Blassberger emphasized the importance of holding enablers, such as CAA, accountable for their failure to protect Ormond from Weinstein.
“We believe that the sexual assault would have never happened if they had fulfilled their obligations as her fiduciaries and warned her. She never would have put herself in this environment where she was meeting with him one on one for a business dinner. Instead, they were more concerned about their relationship with this powerful man who was making them money. Afterwards, when she told them what had happened, they intimidated her into being silent and you see the ramifications of that in terms of her career.”
Read more in The U.S. Sun