Amidst a growing chorus of objections, a federal judge this morning just killed the proposed $19 million settlement for victims of Harvey Weinstein.
“Based on my studies of the papers, based on my study of the objection papers, and based on the flaws that I have already noted, I will not give preliminary approval to the settlement,” declared Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Tuesday.
With repeated questioning, the US District Court judge pulled apart the terms of the June 30 unveiled multi-million-dollar deal in the short telephone conference this morning after listening to plaintiffs’ chief lawyer Elizabeth Fagan lay out the case for the settlement. “The idea that Harvey Weinstein can get a defense fund ahead of the claimants is obnoxious,” Judge Hallerstein who oversaw the 9/11 settlement case years ago, said. “The idea you can regulate the claims of people not in the settlement — I can’t subscribe to that,” he added, sweeping aside the legal house of cards in front of him
With an expected fallout to follow in the courts, the refusal to give preliminary approval puts the kibosh on an insurance fueled deal that Weinstein himself, his brother Bob Weinstein, the former board members of the Weinstein Company, and other corporate entities had signed off on along with many women who had allegations against the once powerful and currently imprisoned producer. As part of a larger $48 million deal, the victims’ settlement was also approved by New York Attorney General Letitia James, despite a call from many other victims for the Empire State’s top law enforcement official to reject the agreement.
All of which throws everything back to square one and the bankruptcy courts, as Harvey Weinstein’s ex-wives have made legal moves of their own to freeze his personal assets.
“We have been saying for over a year and a half that the settlement terms and conditions were unfair and should never be imposed on sexual assault survivors,” said attorneys for Wedil David, Dominique Huett, Kaja Sokola, Rowena Chiu, Zelda Perkins, and Tarale Wulff after the plug was pulled on the 20-minute hearing and the deal by Judge Hellerstein today. “We were surprised that class counsel and the New York Attorney General did not recognize this fact but are pleased that Judge Hellerstein swiftly rejected the one-sided proposal,” added lawyers Douglas Wigdor, Kevin Mintzer, and Bryan Arbeit. “On behalf of our clients, we look forward to pursuing justice against Harvey Weinstein and his many enablers.”
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