Fox News has been dismissed from a former producer’s sexual assault lawsuit against one-time network star Ed Henry.
Fox fired Henry in July 2020 after an outside investigation was launched into "willful sexual misconduct in the workplace," which was triggered by a complaint filed with the network by former Fox Business producer Jennifer Eckhart. An internal memo to the Fox staff at the time called the investigation and finding a “very serious matter.”
Eckhart filed her lawsuit that same month against Henry and Fox News.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams ruled Wednesday that there was “no direct evidence that Fox News was aware of Henry’s alleged harassment of Eckhart before it occurred.”
The judge also noted that Eckhart had acknowledged that “she did not tell anyone at the network about their relationship until after she was terminated in mid-2020.”
Fox News can be “held liable for Henry’s actions only if its management or supervisors knew or should have known about that purported misconduct yet failed to prevent Henry from harming Eckhart," Abrams said in her ruling. "On this record, the Court agrees that no reasonable jury could make that finding."
Eckhart plans to appeal the judge’s decision concerning Fox News. The suit is continuing against Henry.
Eckhart said she was grateful that Abrams had permitted most of her case against Henry to proceed. He’s now scheduled to face trial on May 12 over Eckhart’s claims of assault, battery, sex trafficking and harassment.
Henry, now an anchor at Fox's smaller right-wing competitor Newsmax, has argued that the pair engaged in consensual sex — and claimed that Eckhart “wanted more of it,” according to a court filing. He has said he expects to be vindicated in a final court ruling.
As for her planned appeal Eckhart said in a statement following Abrams’ ruling: “The fight is bigger than me. It is about changing a corporate culture that continues to enable abuse, fear, intimidation and silence, which is why my legal team will be appealing the dismissal of my claims against Fox News.”
In a statement provided to The Independent, a Fox News spokesperson said: “We are pleased with the court’s decision which speaks for itself. 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.”
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.”
Eckhart claims the sex harassment began in 2015 when she was 30 and Henry 48, and allegedly ended in a “violent rape.”
Eckhart’s lawsuit argued that Fox actively ignored the risks that Henry presented, and that Fox supervisors knew he was harassing other women and failed to take action. But Judge Abrams ruled that Fox News “did not know about any of them until after Eckhart and Henry’s final sexual encounter in 2017.”
Eckhart claims in her suit that she initially complied with demands from Henry, who was the chief White House correspondent at the time (and later co-host of the morning show America's Newsroom), to protect her career and feared professional consequences if she didn’t do what he wanted.
Their encounters included sex as well as exchanging sexually explicit messages and images, according to the lawsuit. Other incidents allegedly included Henry telling Eckhart to remove her underwear and place it inside an envelope while the two were in the New York office.
Henry was reportedly suspended from Fox News in 2016 to participate in a sexual rehabilitation program after an “an extramarital affair,” according to the lawsuit.
On February 10, 2017 Eckhart claimed Henry violently raped her, leaving her “wrists and lip bleeding” — which has been fiercely disputed by Henry.
Eckhart worked at Fox News from 2013 until her termination in 2020.
