Ex-Host Andrea Tantaros’ Lawsuit Against Fox News Is Thrown Out
A federal judge in Manhattan has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Andrea Tantaros against Fox News and several executives.
In the original federal lawsuit, which apparently was subsequently amended, Tantaros “alleged that the network had used closed circuit cameras to spy on female employees, used proxies to attack her on social media and had hacked into her Gmail account and her Blackberry,” the Daily Caller explained, possibly as a way to ruin her reputation as a potential whistleblower.
This legal action constitutes the second time that political analyst Tantaros hauled her former employer Fox News into court.
In August 2016, she sued Fox News, former CEO Roger Ailes, and four other FNC defendants in state court, claiming that the TV channel retaliated against her in the workplace for complaining to high-level executives there about alleged sexual harassment by Ailes. In the complaint, Tantaros characterized the network as a “Playboy Mansion-like cult” and also leveled accusations of misbehavior at other Fox News personalities. Part of the retaliation allegedly came in the form of a demotion from the higher-rated The Five to Outnumbered, which airs at noon Eastern time.
Ailes and Fox denied the allegations, and the channel insists that her suspension came because Tantaros failed to get pre-approval for a book manuscript and that Tantaros never lodged internal complaints about sexual harassment before she was sidelined. Fox also accused her of being an opportunist.
Pursuant to the suspension, Tantaros was off the air as of late April 2016, which — setting aside the merits of the litigation — can’t be good for any media pundit’s career or brand, especially since she was a fan favorite. It also undoubtedly hindered the promotion for the book in question, Tied Up in Knots.
As an aside, the circumstances revolving around whether the book was properly vetted or not are somewhat curious in that it was published by a Fox News sister company.
A federal judge on threw out former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros' harassment lawsuit against the network https://t.co/zP9ugYOUAG pic.twitter.com/FdZXOFbaXB
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) May 19, 2018
Fox News kept Andrea Tantaros on the payroll until October 2016, when she appeared on Good Morning America to discuss the sexual harassment accusations, which apparently violated a contractual confidentiality provision.
The sexual harassment case filed at the state level against Fox News is headed to closed-door, private arbitration, as required by her employment contract, rather than open court.
Federal case dismissed
In a 19-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge George B. Daniels, among other things, found no evidence of a violation of the Wiretap Act or the Stored Communications Act.
“Plaintiff’s amended complaint is based primarily on speculation and conjecture. Moreoever, she fails to adequately make out the basic elements of her claim.”
In an email to the Washington Times, Andrea Tantaros reacted to the ruling.
“Not one part of this lawsuit was based on speculation and conjecture — it was based on first hand testimony, cold, hard facts, and independently verified computer forensics. The Judge made the wrong call, and I absolutely plan on appealing. Fox News will be held accountable, just as they have for their sickening past, rife with sexual harassment, discrimination and destroying the careers of dozens of women for having the courage to come forward with the truth.”
https://youtu.be/9fhJeX6cyI0
A Fox News spokeswoman said that “the decision speaks for itself,” AP reported.
Andrea Tantaros is representing herself as a pro se litigant after reportedly parting ways with prior legal representation, Law&Crime noted.
The legal wrangling between Andrea Tantaros and Fox News perhaps amounts to a lose-lose situation. As alluded to above, Fox lost one of its most popular on-air journalists and Tantaros saw her television voice being silenced during what many believe is one of the most memorable presidential campaigns in history and its aftermath.
Morover, again setting the merits of this particular dispute, in general while the workplace can at times be fraught with unfairness, and there can be revisionist history on both sides of the table, whether it rises to the level of illegality (and/or whether the illegality can be proven as a matter of law), is another matter entirely.
Parenthetically, Fox News last week named longtime executive Suzanne Scott as CEO of the network, the first woman to hold that position.
