Fox News agrees to pay $12 million to settle hostile work suit – DNyuz

Fox News has agreed to pay $12 million to Abby Grossberg, a former Fox News producer who had accused the network of operating a hostile and discriminatory workplace and of coercing her into providing false testimony in a deposition.

Parisis G. Filippatos, lawyer for Ms. Grossberg said the settlement concluded all of Ms. Grossberg against Fox and the people he had named in his complaints, which included former host Tucker Carlson and some of its producers.

The legal team of Ms. Grossberg filed a request Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to dismiss an outstanding lawsuit against Fox in light of the settlement.

Ms. Grossberg said in a statement Friday that she stood by her allegations but was “encouraged that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously.”

“I am hopeful, based on our discussions with Fox News today, that this resolution represents a positive step by the network regarding the treatment of women and minorities in the workplace,” he said.

A Fox spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agreement with Ms. Grossberg is the latest development in a series of legal battles between Fox. In April, the company paid Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million in what is believed to be the largest settlement figure in a defamation case. Days later, Fox pulled Tucker Carlson, its most popular host, off the air after the company’s leadership he concluded he was more of a problem than an asset and had to go.

Fox is facing a second defamation case from another voting technology company. Smartmatic, like Dominion, says Fox knowingly spread false information about its products, baselessly claiming they contributed to election fraud in 2020.

The allegations against Fox by Ms. Grossberg, 42, arose in part from the Dominion case. In March, she filed a lawsuit in Delaware, alleging Fox coerced her into lying in sworn testimony she gave in the case. Ms. Grossberg amended her testimony before Dominion’s trial, presenting another hurdle for Fox’s legal team, which had already been dealt a series of blows in pretrial rulings.

Ms. Grossberg also filed a separate lawsuit in New York that accused Fox and Mr. Carlson for allowing a culture of rampant misogyny and sexual harassment. She said she had been subjected to sexist and anti-Semitic harassment during her time as head of booking on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

fox dismissed Ms. Grossberg four days after she filed the two lawsuits, saying in a statement at the time that she had disclosed inside information about the Dominion case. He withdrew the Delaware lawsuit in May, but his attorney said at the time that they planned to file again in New York.

Ms. Grossberg joined Fox News in 2019 as a senior producer for anchor Maria Bartiromo. In August 2022, he moved to Mr. Carlson as Head of Reservations.

In her demand, Ms. Grossberg said she found a workplace tainted by misogyny and harassment, where male producers were openly sexist toward her and her co-workers, made crude jokes and decorated the space with photos of Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the House. , with a swimsuit that shows cleavage.

Mrs. Grossberg never met Mr. Carlson, who mostly worked from their homes in Florida and Maine, but corresponded with him frequently via email, text and video calls. The staff of Mr. Carlson in New York was directed by Justin Wells, the senior executive producer. (Mr. Wells was fired by Fox in April.)

After filing her lawsuits, Ms. Grossberg drip-fed audio recordings of her time at Fox to other media organizations. The recordings showed, among other things, the immense Mr. Carlson influence about the Republican Party; an admission by Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald J. Trump’s lawyer, that he had no evidence of voter fraud; and discussions between Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ms. Bartiromo on his attempts to block President Biden’s election victory.

Mr. Filippatos, the lawyer of Mrs. Grossberg, confirmed that the special counsel’s office investigating Mr. Trump to nullify the 2020 election had contacted him and that he and his client were cooperating. At least 90 tapes had been recovered and the legal team of Ms. Grossberg was forensically analyzing all of Ms. Grossberg in case there were any additional recordings, Filippatos said.

Ms. Grossberg said he would not comment further on his allegations against Fox or his time at the company, but would “continue to speak out on issues and causes I believe in, including journalism, equality, dignity and respect for work placement. “

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