New York Attorney General slammed for approving proposed Harvey Weinstein settlement
New York State Attorney General Letitia James signed off on
a Harvey Weinstein settlement deal that included terms she supposedly promised
victims’ attorney wouldn’t be included.
The settlement deal that James approved was negotiated by
lawyer Elizabeth Fegan, acting on behalf of multiple Weinstein accusers and is
now off the table after it was rejected by Manhattan Federal Judge Alvin
Hellerstein on July 14.
In his decision, Hellerstein called the deal ‘obnoxious’ and
said that Fegan ‘was wasting (her) time.’
‘Harvey Weinstein joins those who ask me to approve it, but
makes no contribution to the settlement. Indeed, he benefits from it,
financially as well as by obtaining a release of claims,’ Hellerstein wrote in
a written ruling released Friday, according to the New York Daily News.
Hellerstein added that he ‘observed that favoring these
groups at the expense of the people suffering sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein
was “obnoxious.” I continue to hold to that view.’
The $19million proposed settlement deal, which Hellerstein
rejected, would leave his accusers to claim between $7,500 to $750,000 each
from the compensation fund, which would be paid entirely by insurers –
Weinstein would not be responsible for ponying up the cash.
An additional $5.4million was aimed at being split up among
14 women, in the US, Canada and the UK, who had sued Weinstein.
Hellerstein told the plaintiff’s lead attorney Elizabeth
Fagan that the deal would ‘create inequality’ among those involved, because not
every woman was subjected to the same extent of sexual abuse, Deadline
reported.
On July 13, six of Weinstein’s accusers argued that the
proposed deal would ultimately amount to $11.2million after legal costs, with
typical awards of just $10,000 to $20,000 for victims.
While rejecting the deal in mid July, Hellerstein called the
$15million defense fund the deal also set aside for Weinstein and his team
‘unconscionable.’
Lawyer Thomas Giuffra, who represents producer Alexandra
Canosa, told the newspaper that James ‘promised us she would never sign off on
an agreement that gave victims’ money to Harvey Weinstein or Bob Weinstein.
Promised us that – she would never agree to that.’
Giuffra added that James ‘botched this thing. The Attorney
General’s office has been the worst thing that happened to this case.’
‘I felt betrayed by the Attorney General’s acceptance of the
settlement, which was so unfair for the victims and did not hold Weinstein
responsible for his crimes on any level,’ Kaja Sokola told the newspaper.
Sokola claimed that Weinstein assaulted her in 2002, when
she was 16 years old.
According to another victim’s lawyer who spoke with the
newspaper on background, James had promised him in July 2019 that she wouldn’t
okay a deal that stopped Weinstein accusers who opted out of the settlement
from chasing money from insurance companies, Bob Weinstein or The Weinstein
Company‘s board of directors.
However, the release for insurers and directors was
ultimately included in the proposed settlement when it was made last month.
The release would have severely limited the amount of money
that Weinstein’s accusers could recover later.
In addition, the unnamed lawyer said, it would have also
limited the victims’ ability to decide how they pursued their cases.
Dominique Huett, who claims Weinstein sexually assaulted her
in 2010, said that she was ‘really upset’ that James ‘could see this slanted
deal as beneficial to survivors when it was structured to get the perpetrators
out of any liability. It also seemed unlawful to me that the deal could block
victims from individually litigating their case.’
A spokesperson for James told the New York Daily News that
‘Attorney General James has been, and will always be a fighter for survivors of
sexual assault and harassment.
‘Without a comprehensive settlement in this case, dozens of
Weinstein survivors will be left with nothing, and will lose their opportunity
to find justice, given the statute of limitations has run out on a lot of their
cases.
‘These brave women have been through so much, and the
Attorney General believes that they deserve to receive what they’ve long been
owed,’ the spokesperson said.
Giuffre said that James’ predecessor, Eric Schneiderman, had
scuttled a 2018 deal that would’ve allowed for the sale of The Weinstein
Company, creating a victims’ compensation fund that could be as high as
$90million.
Class action watchdogs said that James’ office wasn’t
critical enough of the terms of the proposed settlement.
Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute’s Ted Frank told the New York
Daily News that ‘The Attorney General’s office wasn’t appropriately skeptical’
and that rather than agreeing to the settlement terms, ‘They could have
identified the same things Judge Hellerstein identified and said this isn’t the
way a class action settlement is supposed to work.’
Weinstein attorney Imran Ansari said that ‘Many parties
wanted this settlement to succeed, importantly, it was not just the Weinstein
defendants, but the plaintiffs themselves, who likely recognized that this was
the route to a realistic recovery.’
Ansari noted that Weinstein’s ‘current and future financial
state is far from healthy, not only has his personal liberty been taken from
him, but his financial liberty as well.’
The disgraced Hollywood mogul is in the midst of serving a
23-year sentence after having been found guilty of sexually assaulting his
former production assistant Miriam Haley and raping actress Jessica Mann.
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