Ailes lawsuits, investigations will continue
Many of the cases also target Fox News or 21st Century Fox
Roger Ailes is dead, but sexual harassment lawsuits and investigations involving the former head of Fox News will continue — posing new legal challenges for both sides.
Many lawsuits and investigations that target a single individual would be dropped if that person died while the case was pending. However, many of the legal matters involving Ailes also target Fox News and/ or parent company 21st Century Fox. The proceedings are expected to move forward and likely would substitute Ailes’ estate for the man himself as a named defendant, said Gloria Allred, a nationally known attorney who has handled many women’s rights cases.
21st Century Fox so far has paid $ 45 million in settlements related to sexualharassment cases against Ailes, the company reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this month.
The absence of the man who helped build Fox News into a media power- house that changed U. S. broadcasting and national politics could affect both the defense and the plaintiffs in stillpending sexual- harassment cases, said Jack Schaedel, a Los Angeles- based partner in the labor and employment group of national law firm Dykema Gossett.
Plaintiff lawyers in the cases won’t be able to question Ailes in court. Anything Ailes purportedly said before his death would be less likely to be allowed into evidence unless it is corroborated by an independent witness or Ailes previously was questioned about it in a sworn deposition, said Schaedel. For the attorneys representing women suing Ailes and Fox, that limitation could make it more difficult to introduce any alleged harassing comments.
However, Ailes’ absence cuts both ways, depriving attorneys for Fox of the ability to have him in court denying the plaintiff claims and providing explanatory context for decisions and statements by him and the company.
The pending lawsuits include a feder- al case filed last year by Lidija Ujkic.
She alleged that Ailes failed to hire her for a Fox News job after questioning one of her former boyfriends about whether she would “put out, sexually.” Told that she was a “very nice girl,” Ailes allegedly called her and said he did not believe she was “ready” for Fox News, the lawsuit charged.
“When our client testifies to these things, Roger Ailes will not be there to rebut her,” said Douglas Wigdor, a New York City attorney representing Ujkic. “Fox won’t be able to call him ( as a witness) and say that’s not true.”
However, the company may be able to produce workplace records that would provide context, said Emily Martin, general counsel for the National Women’s Law Center.
Attorneys representing Fox and Ailes did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Lawyers for other women who filed similar cases declined to comment Thursday.
“Roger Ailes has left behind a grieving widow and teenage child. They did nothing wrong, and surely deserve our sympathy,” Judd Burstein, the lawyer representing former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros in a sexual- harassment case, said in a written statement.