A Fox News producer on Monday filed a pair of explosive lawsuits against the right-wing talk channel, alleging that the network’s lawyers coerced her into providing misleading testimony in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation case against the company.
The lawsuits filed by Abby Grossberg, who worked as a senior booking producer for Maria Bartiromo and most recently head of booking for Tucker Carlson, accused Fox’s legal team of having engaged in wrongful conduct as it prepared her for a pre-trial deposition in the election technology company’s case.
The lawsuits from Grossberg, who has since been placed on administrative leave by Fox, were filed in Delaware Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“Fox News Attorneys acted as agents and at the behest of Fox News to misleadingly coach, manipulate, and coerce Ms. Grossberg to deliver shaded and/or incomplete answers during her sworn deposition testimony, which answers were clearly to her reputational detriment but greatly benefitted Fox News,” the lawsuit filed in Delaware stated.
The Delaware lawsuit alleged that the “concerted efforts and actions” from Fox’s legal team ultimately caused Grossberg to testify in a way that portrayed the facts “in a false light” in order to “shift culpability” away from senior Fox News executives and “away from Fox Corporation.”
That matter is important because Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, has asked to be dropped as a party in Dominion’s lawsuit by arguing that it does not play a big role in coverage decisions at the network.
Dominion has alleged in its lawsuit against Fox Corporation and Fox News that during the 2020 election the right-wing network “recklessly disregarded the truth” and pushed various pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the election technology company because “the lies were good for Fox’s business.” Fox News has strongly disputed Dominion’s allegations.
A Fox News spokesperson responded to Grossberg’s lawsuits in a statement that said, “Fox News Media engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms. Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review. We will vigorously defend these claims.”
Fox News also on Monday filed suit against Grossberg, seeking a restraining order to prevent her from divulging privileged information [attorney-client privilege] that it said would cause the network to “suffer immediate irreparable harm.” A judge has not yet ruled on Fox’s request.
Tbe crime-fraud exception eviscerates the attorney-client privilege. Fox News’ attorneys cannot hide their own unethical and illegal conduct to suborn perjury from Abby Grossberg behind the attorney-client privilege. The court should: (1) deny the motion for restraining order, and (2) find that the crime-fraud exception eviscerates the attorney-client privilege, and set a show cause hearing for Grossberg to testify to the court about what happened. If the court finds that Fox News’ lawyers unethically suborned perjury from Grossberg, they should be held in contempt of court and sanctioned by the court, including referred by the court to their bar associations for disciplinary action.
UPDATE: One day after suing Tucker Carlson’s producer, Fox News quickly retreated on Tuesday with a brief indicating, without explanation, that the network voluntarily dismissed its case. Fox News drops lawsuit seeking to gag Tucker Carlson producer suing them for discrimination: “PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that, pursuant to CPLR 3217(a)(1), Plaintiff Fox News Network, LLC, hereby discontinues this proceeding, without prejudice, and without costs to any party,” the single-paragraph notice reads in full. (A voluntary dismissal gives Fox News the option to refile the case, if it so chooses).
Fox News had better start thinking about settling this case, write a check with a whole lot of zeros being it. A jury verdict against Fox gives Dominion Voting Systems the opportunity to argue for punitive damages, and suborning perjury from a witness demonstrates bad faith warranting punitive damages.
In a phone interview Monday night, Grossberg and her attorney, Gerry Filippatos, disputed Fox News’ assertion the complaints only came after a critical performance review.
“It’s another example of Fox News not only shying away from the truth, but attempting to bury the truth,” Filippatos told CNN.
It is also unlawful retaliation.
“Fox just does not care,” Grossberg added. “It summarizes everything perfectly. They don’t care about their employees … and they don’t care about their viewers.”
In her lawsuits, Grossberg also made a number of eye-popping allegations about the workplace environment at Fox News, accusing the network of rampant sexism. [Not exactly “eye-popping” for anyone who follows the news, see below.]
Grossberg, who indicated she was passed over for a top job on Bartiromo’s show because the network preferred it be filled by a male, said Fox News executives referred to the “Sunday Mornings Futures” host as a “crazy b**ch” and “menopausal.”
“Trump Fluffer” is also an accurate characterization.
When she began work on Carlson’s show, Grossberg said the environment was horrific. On her first day, she said she learned the show’s workspace was decorated with large photos of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “in a plunging bathing suit revealing her cleavage.”
“Grossberg was mortified by what she was witnessing and began to experience a sinking feeling in her stomach as it became apparent how pervasive the misogyny and drive to embarrass and objectify women was among the male staff at [‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’],” the lawsuit filed in New York said.
The lawsuit continued to describe a culture at Carlson’s program in which women were subjected to crude terms and in which jokes about Jewish people were made out in the open. Grossberg named Carlson and members of his staff in the lawsuit filed in New York.
Filippatos said that Grossberg has “ample documentary evidence in all forms to support a broad swath” of the allegations made in the lawsuits.
Grossberg told CNN that she filed her lawsuit in hopes that it will spur change at the network and because she believed it “was the only step” she had to regain her pride and save her career. Grossberg said she wanted to “expose the lies and deceit” that she “witnessed for years” on two of Fox News’ biggest shows.
“I’ve covered many stories while I have been there,” Grossberg told CNN. “Dominion is just a small portion. And I’ve witnessed it from the very beginning until my last day of work last week.”
“It’s constant,” she added. “Ratings are very important to the shows, to the network, and to the hosts. It’s a business and that’s what drives coverage.”
In related news, “After a hearing Tuesday, if Judge Eric M. Davis dismisses both requests for summary judgment — one by Dominion Voting systems in its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and the other by Fox to throw out the suit — the case will head to trial in April.” Judge to determine whether Dominion defamation case against Fox News goes to trial.
UPDATE: Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman called the allegations in the lawsuit “potentially criminal,” adding that the claims “suggest obstruction of justice and subornation of perjury.”
In 2017, the parent company of Fox News Channel, Twenty-First Century Fox, has paid $45 million in settlements related to sexual harassment allegations against former CEO Roger Ailes (including the $20 million payment received by former Fox News host, Gretchen Carlson). Fox’s bill for Roger Ailes settlements is now $45 million.
Also in 2017, the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly Settled a Sex Harassment Claim for $32 Million.
Two women accused Fox News hosts of sexual harassment and, in one woman’s case, rape [by Ed Henry], in a lawsuit filed in 2020. Fox News and hosts sued in sexual harassment suit. In December 2022, Judge Allows ‘Highly Graphic’ Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Against Ex-Fox News Host Ed Henry to Include New Claims Under New York Adult Survivors Act (then-co-plaintiff Cathy Areu’s case has been dismissed).
In 2021, Fox News to pay $1 million settlement in sexual harassment probe by NYC human rights commission for what a panel called a “culture of pervasive sexual harassment and retaliation at the network.”
UPDATE: There was hearing on the motions for summary judgment on Tuesday. “Judge in Dominion defamation case skeptical of Fox’s arguments, as both sides seek a pretrial win”, https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/business/fox-news-dominion-summary-judgment/index.html
Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems argued Tuesday that its defamation case against Fox News is so strong that a trial isn’t needed, and the judge followed up with some challenging questions for the right-wing outlet during an all-day courtroom clash.
Both sides were in court for a major hearing, where they tried to persuade Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis to to grant “summary judgment” — and decide the case in their favor now, instead of proceeding to a scheduled jury trial next month.
The proceedings went longer than expected due to prolonged procedural arguments in the morning and will resume Wednesday morning. It’s unclear when the judge will issue a ruling, and there is a high bar for either side to prevail at this stage.
[Judge Eric Davis] had some tough questions for Fox News’ lawyers on Tuesday. He challenged some of their legal theories, but he also warned court-watchers not to predict his ruling based on the rigor of his questioning
“I have not made a decision,” Davis said at the start of the hearing. “I have not pre-decided this.”
He said one of Fox’s arguments “doesn’t seem to be intellectually honest.” At another point, he openly questioned how Fox News could argue that former host Lou Dobbs had engaged in legally protected “neutral” reporting when he signed many of his tweets with a MAGA hashtag.
“There seems to be a Dobbs problem, sometimes,” Davis said.
Later, he suggested Fox News host Maria Bartiromo misled her audience in November 2020 when “she made it sound like she had no knowledge, one way or the other” if the claims about Dominion were true. By then, she had already been told the claims were false, Dominion says.
“How can you be fair if you are knowingly providing false information?” Davis asked.
He even questioned the network’s editorial decision to embrace Trump’s election denialism, which Dominion claims was done because Fox was afraid of losing its pro-Trump audience.
“It could have been a bigger story that a President who lost an election was making all these unsubstantiated false allegations” about widespread fraud, Davis mused from the bench.
The judge previously rejected Fox’s requests to throw out the lawsuit, and allowed Dominion to add Fox’s parent company as a defendant, ramping up the legal exposure for the Murdochs.
Note: Motions for summary judgment are rarely granted, but what they do is narrow the legal issues to actually be tried at trial. The judge can make findings of fact and conclusions of law which states the facts that are undisputed, and those that remain in dispute. His conclusions of law can frame the evidence and witnesses to be admitted at trial. So it is useful.