Harvey Weinstein Settlement Of $19M Refused
The federal judge refused film producer Harvey Weinstein's offer of a $19 million settlement. While the objections are growing, Weinstein decided to propose a huge amount for the victims as a deal.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein said that based on the documents presented in the court and his research on those documents doesn't allow him to give approval to Weinstein. Hellerstein explained in his judgment that there are flaws in the papers which has been noted.
The US District Court ripped the terms apart with constant questioning about the multimillion-dollar deal. The plaintiffs’ chief lawyer Elizabeth Fagan told that Weinstein's act of offering funds to the victims is unpleasant.
Hellerstein said that the idea of regulating people with a settlement is not acceptable and simply swept the offer aside. After the judge refused the preliminary approval, it also put an end to the deal that the 68-year-old director, his younger brother Bob Weinstein, other business associates, and The Weinstein Company's board members had signed off.
The big deal of $47 million, the settlement towards victims was approved by Letitia James, New York Attorney General. However, many victims called off this settlement and asked the top law enforcement official of Empire State to refuse the agreement.
The amount was supposed to be paid by TWC insurance and after the calculations, each victim would have received $20,000. If the deal was accepted then Weinstein would have received a clean chit, which would have led Weinstein, his business associates, and other board members free from every obligation without spending from their pocket.
Furthermore, the settlement was unfair and seemed one-sided. Fagen said that every victim was assaulted in a different way, it wasn't the same for every woman and because of that, the settlement seemed unfair among victims.
James's office said that they will review the refusal of the judge and decide the further steps. While the statement was supposed to last for at least an hour during the hearing, it was done within 20 minutes. James' office further added that they are working tirelessly to ensure that these victims get justice.
Several lawyers of the victims had objected to the settlement offered. Attorneys of Dominique Huett, Wedil David, Zelda Perkins, Kaja Sokola, Tarale Wulff, and Rowena Chiu said that it’s been more than a year that they have objected the terms and conditions of the settlement. The attorneys also told that imposing the settlement on "sexual assault survivors" is unfair.