Rose McGowan’s Lawsuit Against Weinstein Lawsuit Dismissed by Federal Judge

Actor Rose McGowan’s lawsuit against former producer and media mogul Harvey Weinstein, which was filed in California in 2019, was thrown out Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II. Wright dismissed the suit after McGowan missed a December filing deadline.

McGowan, who rose to prominence with performances in films like Scream, Jawbreaker and the supernatural drama series Charmed, was one of the first prominent public accusers of Weinstein. McGowan alleges she was raped by Weinstein in a hotel room at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, which he denies. Weinstein did pay McGowan a $100,000 settlement that same year.

The racketeering lawsuit alleged that Weinstein, attorneys David Boies and Lisa Bloom, and private Investigation company Black Cube, coordinated to publicly discredit McGowan after she announced plans to publish a memoir that would include details of her assault.

Along with attempting to obtain a copy of the book by using an undercover agent to befriend McGowan, the lawsuit claimed that this team made efforts to derail the New Yorker and New York Times stories that exposed a cascade of accusations against Weinstein.

A spokesperson for Weinstein praised the dismissal in a statement, which read “Out of the public glare, with proper time, legal work, evidence and facts, this is the way we ultimately believe they all will go.”

This is a significant legal setback for McGowan, as the suit was dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning she will not be able to bring these claims to court again. McGowan had been representing herself in the suit since she split with her legal team in November.

Weinstein is still in prison in Los Angeles, serving a 23-year sentence on a rape conviction in March 2020. He is still facing more charges and most recently pleaded not guilty in September to 11 counts of rape and assault based on allegations from five women.