A US court of appeals on Wednesday ruled that actress Ashley Judd has the right to pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, overturning a lower court's decision. The three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Weinstein, who is in prison, held power over the actress and her career when he invited her to his room in a luxury Los Angeles hotel in the mid-1990s. Judd was one of the first women to come forward with sexual harassment claims against Weinstein, and sued him in April 2018 over the incident at his Beverly Hills hotel where she met with him to discuss potential film roles. She alleges that after she rebuffed his advances, Weinstein defamed her and damaged her career by discouraging "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson from giving her a role, claiming she was a "nightmare" to work with.