Judge dismisses Fox News from sexual assault lawsuit against former star

A federal judge has dismissed Fox News Media from a lawsuit filed by former Fox Business producer Jennifer Eckhart against the network and its former star, anchor and correspondent Ed Henry.

Fox fired Henry in July 2020 after an outside investigation into “willful sexual misconduct in the workplace” prompted by an internal complaint Eckhart had filed with the network. In her subsequent civil lawsuit that month, she alleged that Henry had raped her and had for years sexually harassed her, promising to advance her career in exchange for sex and grooming and coercing her to do so. She claimed Fox News should have known about Henry’s alleged behavior and taken steps to stop it.

Eckhart’s lawsuit came on the heels of the #MeToo movement. Fox was at its epicenter: A wave of revelations of episodes of pervasive sexual harassment led to upheaval at the network. Fox and its controlling owners, the Murdochs, fired executives and stars and undertook a series of initiatives that it said would change the culture.

Eckhart’s suit asserted that Fox “continues to protect and reward perpetrators of sexual harassment and refuses to take accountability for putting such persons in positions of power.” She also alleged that her firing earlier that year was based on a pretext. But Fox provided documentation indicating it had fired her for poor performance, including frequently being late to work — a point U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams found the evidence supported.

Henry, now anchor at Fox’s smaller right-wing competitor Newsmax, has argued that everything sexual that happened between him and Eckhart was consensual and that he will be vindicated in court.

Abrams, based in Manhattan, upheld Fox’s claims that it could not have known that “Henry would assault Eckhart because it did not learn of his alleged misconduct until much later.”

“We are pleased with the court’s decision, which speaks for itself,” Fox News said in a statement released through a spokesperson.

“Upon learning of Jennifer Eckhart’s allegations in 2020, FOX News promptly conducted an investigation by an outside independent law firm and terminated Ed Henry within six days,” Fox added. “Discovery in this matter confirmed that FOX News was not aware of their relationship or of Ms. Eckhart’s allegations until after she left the company. The only people who know what happened between Mr. Henry and Ms. Eckhart are the two of them.”

Former Fox producer says she will appeal ruling

Eckhart said she would appeal the dismissal of Fox News from her lawsuit.

“This fight is bigger than me,” Eckhart said in a statement. “It is about changing a corporate culture that continues to enable abuse, fear, intimidation and silence.”

She said she was grateful that Abrams had permitted most of her case against Henry to proceed; the judge found that her allegations could convince “a reasonable jury.” The trial is scheduled to begin May 12.

The details of her allegations are grim and disturbing. In court filings, she alleges that Henry forced her to perform oral sex on him at the Fox News headquarters in New York City; she alleges that, two years later, he handcuffed her as part of what her legal team termed “a violent, painful rape” in a Manhattan hotel room. Eckhart also alleged that Henry violated sexual trafficking laws by enticing her to have sex in exchange for helping her career.

Judge Abrams dismissed Eckart’s claim of “revenge porn” against Henry. His legal team had filed sexually explicit photos she had sent him to bolster its argument that the sexual relationship was consensual.

Henry had been suspended in 2016 by Fox’s chairman at the time, Roger Ailes, when tabloid reports revealed his relationship with a Las Vegas hostess. Fox’s executive vice president for human resources, Kevin Lord, testified at a deposition that Henry attended a “sexual rehabilitation center” before returning. (Fox News “insists” that it merely “suggest[ed]” that Henry attend, the judge wrote.)

A series of sexual harassment allegations

Ailes was dismissed in summer 2016 after former host Gretchen Carlson lodged complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct against him, and numerous other former and current female staffers followed with their own. Ailes died in 2017.

Other Fox stars were soon forced out over related allegations, including primetime star Bill O’Reilly, correspondent James Rosen and executive Francisco Cortes. All save Rosen denied the allegations; he did not address the accusations when NPR first disclosed them.

Fox, its insurers, and O’Reilly reached agreements to pay sums totaling more than $200 million to settle widespread claims of sexual harassment and to oust some of those accused, including Ailes and O’Reilly.

Henry not only returned to air, but was promoted, eventually becoming co-host of the morning show America’s Newsroom. 

In 2017, a colleague had warned senior Fox executives against giving Henry greater prominence at the network because it could damage Fox’s efforts to reform its workplace culture.

In Eckhart’s case, Fox has resolutely rejected any knowledge of and hence responsibility for Henry’s actions and assault. Eckhart had admitted that she had not expressly disclosed what she alleges was routine harassment of her by male colleagues, and not only by Henry, until after she was fired; however, she cited a “toxic” workplace environment in an earlier meeting about her job performance.

At the time of the suit’s filing in 2020, Fox said it took “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.”