Weinstein Accusers In Chapter 11 Settlement Process Push To End It And Let Individuals Pursue Solo Cases

Two of the alleged victims of Harvey Weinstein are pushing to have the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process conclude, with plaintiffs able to pursue individual cases through Chapter 7 instead.

Actresses Wedil David and Dominque Huett are referred to in court documents as “non-settling plaintiffs.” Both are already pursuing their own separate cases over rape and sexual assault accusations against Weinstein, who has started serving a 23-year prison sentence after a criminal conviction in March.

The two are among many critics of a proposed settlement that would have delivered $19 million to the dozens of women with claims against the former movie mogul. Last week, New York Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected the proposed agreement because it would have been funded by insurance, with a large chunk of the overall $47 million going to attorneys.

In a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, attorneys for David and Huett asked for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases to be converted to Chapter 7. That shift would effectively end settlement discussions and liquidate the Weinstein estate, a step that attorneys say is overdue. They point to the time that has passed since the resolution of the Weinstein Co.’s main Chapter 11 process. It resulted in Lantern Entertainment scooping up the company’s film and TV assets for $289 million in 2018 and then teaming with former MGM chief Gary Barber to form Spyglass Media Group.

“The debtors sold substantially all of their assets over two years ago,” the motion notes. “There is not any possibility of a true reorganization. There is only liquidation, and that is accomplished with far less cost in Chapter 7.”

Driving home their argument that no substantive, collective bankruptcy court solution can be obtained, attorneys titled one section of their motion, “Harvey Weinstein is Incarcerated and the Debtors are Moribund.”

Hellerstein’s refusal to allow the settlement to proceed in New York was a “major setback” to the notion of a Chapter 11 settlement to coalesce in bankruptcy court, the filing adds. Attorneys for Weinstein had actually filed a similar motion in 2019 to convert the Delaware case to Chapter 7 after settlement talks had stalled and they believed no more progress would be made.