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A judge on Thursday ordered CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz to complete his deposition in the Julia Ormond sexual assault lawsuit, months after storming out when he was asked about Jeffrey Epstein.
Ormond is suing CAA for
arranging a meeting for her with Harvey Weinstein in December 1995, after which Weinstein allegedly sexually assaulted her. Ovitz had already left the agency at that point, but Ormond’s lawyers have sought to question him about the agency’s relationship with Weinstein and about how it handled sexual misconduct issues.
At a deposition on June 1, Ovitz grew irate when Ormond’s lawyers asked him if he was friendly with Epstein, the notorious sex criminal.
“What does this got to do with Harvey Weinstein?” Ovitz asked, before taking off his microphone and storming out.
Ormond’s lawyers asked the judge in the case to issue an arrest warrant and to hold Ovitz in contempt. Ovitz, meanwhile, asked to be excused from further questioning on the grounds that Ormond’s lawyers were trying to harass him with irrelevant questions.
In his ruling on Thursday, Judge Adam Silvera ordered Ovitz to complete his deposition by Dec. 18. He denied the requests for an arrest warrant and a contempt finding, but also refused to rule out further questions about Epstein.
“The Court finds that the deposition of non-party Ovitz was not completed but, rather was inappropriately terminated by non-party Ovitz,” the judge ruled.
Ormond’s lawyers issued a statement on Thursday applauding the ruling.
“We are pleased that the Court has held that Michael Ovitz ‘inappropriately terminated’ the deposition, required him to return and answer all of our questions, and ‘warned’ him to follow the Court’s rules,” said the attorneys, Kevin Mintzer, Meredith Firetog, and Effie Blassberger. “The decision makes clear that Mr. Ovitz was not entitled to storm out of the deposition, and that he is not above the law. We look forward to resuming the deposition and trust that Mr. Ovitz will behave himself.”
Emails between Ovitz and Epstein were disclosed earlier this year as part of the Epstein files. In one email, Ovitz states that he was looking forward to seeing Epstein at St. Barts, and in another he writes, “I would love to see you.”
CAA’s lawyers argued that Ovitz had been ambushed with material designed to smear his character rather than reveal anything relevant to the case.
