Ashley Judd sex harassment claim against Harvey Weinstein dismissed

A federal judge has thrown out part of a lawsuit Ashley Judd filed against Harvey Weinstein that alleges he deliberately derailed her career when she turned him down sexually.

US District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez on Wednesday (local time) dismissed the sexual harassment allegation in the lawsuit, ruling that the California law Judd was suing under does not apply to the professional relationship she and the movie mogul had at the time.

Gutierrez gave Judd a month to amend and attempt to revive that section of the lawsuit, which her lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. says they intend to do.

The judge kept alive Judd's defamation claim against Weinstein, which alleges he falsely called her a "nightmare" to work with.

Weinstein's lawyer Phyllis Kupferstein didn't immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Judd's suit alleged that Weinstein convinced director Peter Jackson and his partner not to cast her after she rejected Weinstein at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Judd was one of several actresses who went on the record for a New York Times expose of Weinstein's behavior last year.

In a motion to dismiss Judd's lawsuit, Weinstein's lawyers said that the producer's conduct at the hotel did not amount to sexual harassment because it was "not severe and persuasive", that the pair had no legal employer-employee relationship and that the claims are barred by the statute of limitations.

The filing says the incident happened in one day and included him asking her to choose his clothes, watch him shower and give him a massage.

Judd, according to court documents, said that once inside the hotel room, she deflected the producer's advances by saying she would let him touch her only after she won an Academy Award in one of his movies.

"According to Plaintiff, Weinstein negotiated, 'When you get nominated,' to which Plaintiff replied, 'No, when I win'."

Her lawyers say this was a mock bargain designed to let her escape the room.

But Weinstein's lawyers claim the deal was real.

Last week a leaked video emerged showing Weinstein asking a woman who later accused him of rape if he could "flirt" with her during a business meeting.

The video, obtained by Sky News, showed Melissa Thompson at The Weinstein Company offices in New York back in September 2011, where she was trying to make a business pitch to Weinstein.

According to Sky News, they had met briefly once, but this was their first formal meeting, and as part of the demo Thompson recorded it.

Sky News reported that Thompson alleges that hours after the meeting Weinstein reportedly raped her.

- With AP