An abuse lawsuit filed by actress Rose McGowan against Harvey Weinstein is off the books after an appellate court ruled that the New York-based woman missed a January 31 deadline to file the lawsuit.
McGowan was among a slew of actresses who accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. As a result, she received widespread attention and a starring role in the recent “Wind River” movie by Jeremy Saulnier and was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her performance in the Weinstein scandal film “Crazy Rich Asians.”
McGowan, however, has also been a vocal critic of Weinstein’s former company Miramax who she also accused of standing by and doing nothing while Weinstein sexually assaulted her.
Her lawsuit is one of several brought by women against Weinstein, but it was the one that seemed to have the most international relevance. McGowan accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, employment discrimination and sexual harassment; the in the criminal case, Weinstein is facing allegations of sexual assault and the criminal trial in New York City is expected to begin in March.
There were three federal appeals court judges from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania who heard the case Monday.
McGowan was one of numerous women to speak out about the toxic workplace culture at Miramax in the mid-2000s. Her allegations, which were repeated in the New Yorker and The New York Times earlier this year, made her the highest-profile woman to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
The three judges said McGowan could not meet the January 31 deadline because she waited too long to file her claim after the scandal exploded in October, according to court papers.
“McGowan did not know until October 2018 of the existence of a multi-jurisdictional investigation into charges that Weinstein had sexually assaulted [Renee Novelli], and she waited until October 2018 to file this complaint when a lawsuit in this district based on [those] allegations would have been filed in the very same month,” the court wrote.
The judges ordered the case be dismissed on March 1, 2020.