Harvey Weinstein Uses Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lawrence in Lawsuit Defense

Harvey Weinstein wants one of the class action lawsuits against him dismissed, and says Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lawrence prove the case has some major holes.

Weinstein filed docs responding to the suit ... which claims he -- along with the board of TWC -- used his power to intimidate women and cover up his pattern of sexual misconduct. In his new docs Weinstein says his experience with Gwyneth shows he did NOT intimidate women.

He says even though Gwyneth has accused him of harassing her in 1994, while filming "Emma," he points out she went on to star in other Weinstein movies, including "Shakespeare in Love" ... which earned her an Oscar. His point ... her career clearly didn't "suffer as a result of her rebuffing his alleged advances."

In the docs, Weinstein also says J Law and Meryl Streep show the plaintiffs are trying to drag too many people into the class action suit. It seeks to include "all women who met with Harvey" about Weinstein projects. But Weinstein says Jennifer has spoken glowingly about him, and he quotes, "he had only ever been nice to me." He adds Meryl also echoed her praise, calling him respectful in their working relationship.

Weinstein wants the suit tossed for those reasons, and also because he says the sexual misconduct allegations fall outside the statute of limitations.