Fox News has agreed to pay former producer Abby Grossberg $12 million to settle a lawsuit in which she accused the cable network of creating a hostile and discriminatory workplace and of coercing her into providing false testimony in a deposition.
Grossberg’s lawyer, Parisis G. Filippatos, said the settlement concluded all of his client’s claims against Fox and others named in the suit, including former Fox News prime time host Tucker Carlson.
Carlson “parted ways” with Fox News in April, less than a week after Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, in which Carlson’s show figured prominently for its role in spreading disinformation about the 2020 Presidential election’s results.
Grossberg’s accusations against her former employer came in part from the Dominion case. In March she filed suit alleging that Fox coerced her into lying in sworn testimony she gave in the case. Grossberg amended her witness testimony ahead of the Dominion trial.
Grossberg said in a statement on Friday that she stood by her allegations, but she was “heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously.”
A Fox spokesperson said in a statement on Friday, “We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation.”
It remained unclear how Grossberg’s settlement and the departure of Carlson might factor into the pending $2.7 billion lawsuit brought against Fox News by Smartmatic voting systems. Any trial in that case could potentially still be months away.
