Fox News, Former Employee Poised for Court Showdown Over 2020 Assault Case

Fox News and Jennifer Eckhart, a former associate producer for Fox Business Network, could be headed to court in a lurid case that has been making its way through legal channels for the past four years.

Fox News on Monday night filed a request for summary judgement in the case, in which Eckhart has alleged she was raped by Ed Henry, a former Fox News correspondent who was dismissed from the Fox Corp.-backed outlet in 2020 following an investigation into a complaint about “willful sexual misconduct in the workplace.” Eckart’s lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York in July of 2020. A lawyer for Henry has in the past claimed Eckhart “initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship.” Fox News terminated Eckhart in 2020.

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Speaking about the case in open court is “a very likely outcome that I am prepared for,” said Eckhart, during an interview. “I’m not under any gag order.”

Meeting in court would serve as an unpleasant ordeal for each side. Eckart would likely have to answer detailed questions about her time working at Fox News, while Fox News executives would face the unwelcome prospect of having the network’s business and internal operations laid bare for the general public. Fox Corp. has in the past been willing to go to court on behalf of Fox News in at least some cases. In 2023, the company waited until a much-scrutinized defamation case filed by voting-technology company Dominion Voting opened in Wilmington, Delaware, before agreeing to settle the matter — tied to the plaintiff’s allegation that Fox News made false claims about its actions and influence on the 2020 election — for $787.5 million.

In the original suit, Eckhart alleged Henry, who had been an anchor on “America’s Newsroom,” the network’s mid-morning news program, “groomed, psychologically manipulated and coerced Ms. Eckhart into having a sexual relationship with him, and that, when she would not comply voluntarily, he sexually assaulted her on office property, and raped her at a hotel where Fox News frequently lodged its visiting employees.”

In its Monday-night filing, Fox News said it acted on Eckhart’s allegations as soon as they were made.

“Eckhart raised these allegations with FNN for the first time through her lawyers on June 25, 2020 — three years after the alleged harassment ended, and two weeks after Eckhart was terminated by FNN for
longstanding, unremedied performance failures,” Fox News said in its filing. “Even though Eckhart was no longer employed by FNN, upon hearing of Ms. Eckhart’s allegations, FNN President Jay Wallace and Executive Vice President of Human Resources Kevin Lord suspended Henry that very day, took him off the air, and immediately hired an independent law firm to investigate. Notably, during that investigation
Eckhart refused to disclose her communications with Henry — communications that, as FNN
learned in discovery, contained numerous sexually provocative messages and intimate photographs
that Eckhart sent to Henry and that she conspicuously omitted from her Complaint. FNN’s outside
investigator issued findings, and Wallace and Lord fired Henry for his admitted violations of
workplace policy six days after FNN first received Eckhart’s complaint. On the same day as Henry’s termination, Wallace and FNN CEO Suzanne Scott informed all employees that FNN had
received a complaint of sexual misconduct against Henry, investigated, and fired him –and
reminded everyone that FNN prohibits all forms of sexual harassment, misconduct, and
discrimination.”

The company’s filing said Fox News “took exactly the steps that would be expected of a reasonable
employer and swiftly responded as soon as Eckhart brought Henry’s alleged misconduct to the
company’s attention” and said it was “entitled to summary judgment on Eckhart’s remaining claims of sexual harassment, negligence, and retaliation.”

Michael J. Willemin, an attorney who represents Eckhart for the Wigdor law firm, said he believes “there is very little chance” Fox’s request for summary judgement will be granted. “We feel it will be denied, and we will look forward to starting the trial in this matter in front of a jury of Jennifer’s peers.” He said he believes “the notion that Fox News was unaware of Mr. Henry’s problematic behavior toward women” prior to Eckhart’s allegations being raised “is not credible.”

“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 has confirmed that Fox News was not aware of their relationship or of Ms. Eckhart’s allegations until after she left the company,” Fox News said in a statement Tuesday. “The only people who know what happened between Mr. Henry and Ms. Eckhart are Mr. Henry and Ms. Eckhart.” 

Eckhart says she expects the “outcome of this case after four years will serve as a beacon of hope for trauma survivors everywhere,” and believes “the decisions I have made and how I have conducted myself through this process” will “set a precedent and serve as a blueprint for future sexual assault survivors in the workplace.”