Indian-Origin Ex-Assistant of Harvey Weinstein Approaches New York State Court

Harvey Weinstein’s Indian-origin ex-assistant, who had sued the disgraced Hollywood producer, approached the New York state court on Feb. 27 after her case was dismissed in a federal court on jurisdictional grounds, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sandeep Rehal had sued, besides Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, The Weinstein Co. (TWC), and human resources executive Frank Gil for aiding and abetting harassment in a federal court.

Judge Jesse Furman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the matter on jurisdictional grounds on Feb. 26. He questioned in January if his court was the proper venue for the case. Rehal is a resident of California and TWC is a Delaware limited liability company (LLC) that’s primarily based in New York. The LLC is considered a citizen of each state it members reside in.

As per jurisdiction, Rehal had to prove that the defendants were resident of California. Since she couldn’t achieve that, the matter was dismissed. The next day, her attorneys Laura Schnell and Genie Harrison filed the case in a New York state court.

Rehal, 26, had alleged that she was emotionally distressed because of the “pervasive and severe sexually hostile work environment at the Weinstein Company LLC.”

She said that she was “required to be involved in and aware of the preparation for, and clean up after, Harvey Weinstein’s extremely prolific sexual encounters,” according to her suit. “Another ‘task’ Ms. Rehal was forced to do to aid Harvey Weinstein’s sexual encounters was to clean up the semen on the couch in Harvey Weinstein’s office… on a regular basis,” it added.

She also said that she had to maintain a stock of Caverject shots for his erectile dysfunction. “She had to obtain the shots and keep them stocked in a ​cabinet behind her desk at Harvey Weinstein’s TWC office,” the suit says. “Every time Harvey Weinstein went to meet a woman at a hotel, in the office, or elsewhere, which occurred on average at least three times a week when he was in New York, Ms. Rehal was required as part of her job to provide [him] with a shot, which she placed in his jacket pocket or in a brown paper bag.”