The Reason Anna Faris Cannot Sue Ivan Reitman Over Alleged Harassment

(CTN News) – It is unlikely that Anna Faris will be able to sue Hollywood heavyweight Ivan Reitman for harassment after recently accusing him of assaulting her.

Despite Reitman’s death in February, a statute of limitations means Faris can’t sue even his estate.

According to Lena Dunham, the cast and crew endured a “reign of terror” working with Reitman in 2006.

In her podcast, Anna Faris Is Unqualified, Faris talked about how Reitman “slapped her ass” in front of everyone.

Faris says she felt angry, hurt, and humiliated after working with the late Reitman on My Super Ex-Girlfriend in 2006.

One of my hardest film experiences was with Ivan Reitman. He was a yeller, and trying to make a comedy under the reign of terror was hard.

“He would bring down someone every day…and on my first day, it was me.”

Dunham said Faris wasn’t “the first person who’s reported that” about Reitman’s alleged behavior on set.

Because it was 2006, before the #MeToo movement helped empower Hollywood abuse victims, Faris felt she couldn’t do anything.

“I didn’t see that incident, or hear about it, but I don’t have any reason to dispute Anna Faris account either,” Gavin Polone told Deadline.

Anna Faris says it happened, so I believe her. If it had happened in front of me, I’d have confronted Ivan about it. I’m sad Anna Faris was demeaned that way.”

Newsweek’s Andrew Lieb said “this wrongful act clearly constitutes sex discrimination, but it’s unlikely to result in a successful lawsuit.”

Faris could still sue Reitman’s estate, not because Reitman was dead.

“The real issue is how long ago the alleged incident occurred,” he told Newsweek.

Across the country, there’s no discrimination statute of limitations for a case from that long ago.

But, some states, like New York, have extended the statute of limitations on certain sexual crimes to 20 years, so maybe she’d still have a claim if more happened than just the alleged butt slapping and it happened, at least in part, there. Despite that, there’s no case on the facts we know.

This isn’t the first time Faris has spoken about the on-set abuse. She talked about it on her podcast in 2017, but didn’t name Reitman.

In a scene, Faris was supposed to be taking books off a shelf, and he slapped her ass so hard. She couldn’t help but giggle.

“I remember looking around and seeing the crew members say, Wait, what are you going to do about that?” she said.

‘Well, this isn’t a thing. Buck up, Faris. Just giggle.’ But it made me feel small. He wouldn’t have done that to the lead male.”

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