The actress says Disney is responsible for Weinstein's alleged conduct because the two worked together on 'The Cider House Rules,' which was produced by then Disney-owned Miramax. Disney says it will vigorously defend against the claims.

Disney, its CEO Bob Iger and its ex-chairman Michael Eisner are being brought into Paz de la Huerta's sexual assault lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein. The actress in November sued Weinstein for sexual battery, and also targeted The Weinstein Co. and the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills for their alleged roles in the situation. De la Huerta says she met the mogul in 1999 when she was a 14-year-old actress working on the film The Cider House Rules, and she alleges that more than a decade later Weinstein raped her. Since the suit was filed, it was moved to federal court and remanded back to Los Angeles County Superior Court. Now, De la Huerta is expanding the list of people who she says are responsible for Weinstein's alleged assaults.

In a complaint submitted Tuesday, de la Huerta contends Eisner and Iger "made a series of decisions that allowed a range of actions by Harvey Weinstein that unacceptably harmed certain employees of Miramax," which Disney owned at the time. "It is clear that the risk of sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein is inherent in the working environment fostered at Miramax," writes attorney Aaron Filler. "De La Huerta and her family were aware of and anxious about these risks at the time of the undertaking to allow Paz de La Huerta to participate in the making of the Cider House Rules film. … The motivating emotions of Harvey Weinstein were fairly attributable to the work conditions of his controlling the work and hiring of young female actresses while imbuing all aspects of the work with a sense of likelihood or expectability of intimate sexual contact." The actress alleges that Disney, as then-owner of Miramax, is responsible because the assault arose from "the bringing together of these two individuals [de la Huerta and Weinstein] in the course of business of Miramax."