By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 18 – Jennifer Eckhart and Cathy Areu sued Fox News, Ed Henry, Sean Hannity and others. Their cases have since been severed.
On July 21, 2021 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Ronnie Abrams held an oral argument. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here and below (podcast here)
On September 29, on reconsideration, Judge Abrams ruled that "MOTION for Reconsideration filed by Ed Henry. The Court grants Henry's motion for reconsideration with respect to Plaintiff's retaliation claims, but denies it with respect to the New York Civil Rights Law § 52-b and the hostile work environment statute of limitations arguments. Those claims, together with Plaintiff's claims for sex trafficking pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1591, et seq., and Gender-Motivated Violence pursuant to N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-903 (2017), shall proceed against Henry. (Signed by Judge Ronnie Abrams on 9/29/2022)
There were summary judgment arguments on February 11, 2025, in which Harvey Weinstein and Roger Ailes, among others, were cited. Inner City Press live tweeted it here.
In March 2025 "the Court granted in part and denied in part Defendant Ed Henry's motion for summary judgment and scheduled the matter for trial...Motion to Continue. Trial will begin on June 16, 2025. The parties shall appear for a final pretrial conference on June 13, 2025."
we note that the Guiffre v. [Ghislaine] Maxwell case cited above was cited elsewhere in the SDNY on October 20, in support of sealing or not docketing mere words, letters by Suspicious Activities Report leaker / whistleblower Natalie Edwards, which Inner City Press applied to unseal, October 20 order here.
Ms. Areu says Sean Hannity threw a $100 bill on the set desk and "began calling out to men in the room and demanding that someone take Ms. Areu out on a date for drinks at Del Friscos."
At issue on October 7 was whether the separate the two women's cases. This will be done.
Update: After Inner City Press published the above about the October 7 proceeding, we received the following which we publish in full:
Statement from FOX News on the Cathy Areu amended complaint “As we have maintained, the accusations against Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Howard Kurtz are utterly devoid of merit. Ms. Areu’s allegation that women are not treated equally at FOX News is also provably false and yet another malicious attempt to smear the network with baseless claims. In fact, FOX News has provided more leadership opportunities for women than any other cable news network, including featuring more solo women anchors and hosts on-air and retaining a senior staff comprised of more than 50% female executives.”
Statement from FOX News in response to Wigdor lawsuit filing: “Based on the findings of a comprehensive independent investigation conducted by an outside law firm, including interviews with numerous eyewitnesses, we have determined that all of Cathy Areu’s claims against FOX News, including its management as well as its hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity & Howard Kurtz and its contributor Gianno Caldwell, are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit. We take all claims of harassment, misconduct and retaliation seriously, promptly investigating them and taking immediate action as needed — in this case, the appropriate action based on our investigation is to defend vigorously against these baseless allegations. Ms. Areu and Jennifer Eckhart can pursue their claims against Ed Henry directly with him, as FOX News already took swift action as soon as it learned of Ms. Eckhart’s claims on June 25 and Mr. Henry is no longer employed by the network.”
The lead case is Eckhart et al v. Fox News Network, LLC et al., 20-cv-5593 (Abrams / Gorenstein)
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