Ashley Judd’s sex harassment claim against Harvey Weinstein is revived

Actress Ashley Judd persuaded a federal appeals court to let her proceed with a sexual harassment claim against Harvey Weinstein.

The allegation is related to an episode at a Beverly Hills hotel about two decades ago, where she claims she could only escape his unwanted advances after promising he could “touch her” when she won an Academy Award in one of his movies.

The San Francisco-based appeals court ruled Wednesday that Judd showed there was a professional relationship at the time of the alleged harassment and overturned a ruling last year by a Los Angeles judge that threw out the claim.

This month, a federal judge in New York declined to give preliminary approval to a proposed $18.9 million settlement between Weinstein and nine women who claim he sexually assaulted or abused them, saying the tentative deal isn’t fair to other women.

Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence at a maximum security prison in upstate New York after his conviction at a trial this year.

The lower-court case is Judd v. Weinstein, 18-cv-5724, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).