As new claims of assault and harassment by Harvey Weinstein continue to trickle out, his former company is trying to wade through the legal battles he left in his wake, and in doing so, distance itself as much as possible from the disgraced producer. Deadline reports that the Weinstein Company is requesting the dismissal of a class action lawsuit brought against the studio and several of its board members for the role they may have played in enabling Weinstein’s alleged decades of abuse. The motion for dismissal, filed in New York City, emphasizes that Harvey Weinstein acted alone if he engaged in unlawful conduct, and the the plaintiffs in the case, “failed to plead facts sufficient to demonstrate that TWC should be held liable for the alleged conduct of H. Weinstein.†The document goes on to say that while “allegations of a secret criminal sexual enterprise may make for good newspaper copy,†they do not actually stand up to legal scrutiny. “None of the plaintiffs have pleaded facts demonstrating any concrete, non-speculative injury to their business prospects, nor have they alleged how TWC’s alleged conduct was the direct cause of such injury,†reads the motion.
According to the filing, Weinstein Company lawyers are asserting that the plaintiffs failed to “plead any viable facts†that support accusations of sex trafficking, witness tampering, mail or wire fraud, or racketeering. And even if such factual evidence did exist, the defendant’s legal counsel says the statute of limitations has run out on possible recourse. “In other words, Plaintiffs’ own pleading on its face shows that the claims are all based on conduct that occurred a decade or more ago, and therefore the limitation periods for all of Plaintiffs’ claims expired years ago.â€