A federal judge dismisses Rose McGowan's lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein
A federal judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit by actor Rose McGowan against former media mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The suit, filed in October 2019, was thrown out Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II in Los Angeles.
Wright tossed the case after McGowan reportedly missed a December filing deadline. She had been representing herself in the suit after splitting with her attorneys in November.
The actor — who shot to fame through roles on the TV series Charmed and in the horror film Scream — had previously accused Weinstein of raping her in a hotel room at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997, which he denied. The pair reached a $100,000 settlement over the alleged incident.
McGowan said that as she was preparing to publish her memoir with details of the assault, Weinstein hired a team of lawyers and investigators to obtain a copy of the book and publicly discredit her. She filed a racketeering lawsuit against Weinstein, attorneys David Boies and Lisa Bloom and their law firms, as well as the private investigation company Black Cube.
In a statement to NBC News, a spokesperson for Weinstein praised the dismissal of the lawsuit.
"Out of the public glare, with proper time, legal work, evidence and facts, this is the way we believe they ultimately will all go," the statement read. "A chapter is put behind as Mr. Weinstein keeps going forward to demonstrate the truth."
The disgraced movie producer is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted by a New York City jury last year of raping and sexually assaulting two women. Weinstein is set to face another trial in Los Angeles, where prosecutors have charged him with additional counts of rape and sexual assault.
A version of this story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog. [Copyright 2021 NPR]
