An attorney for Fox News chief Roger Ailes has filed a motion to move the sexual-harassment case leveled against him by former anchor Gretchen Carlson to New York City, the latest twist in a growing court battle that could have far-reaching implications for the 21st Century Fox cable network.
In a filing made in federal court in the Southern District of New York City, the attorney, Susan Estrich, asked the case be moved for arbitration to New York City (see statement below). Attorneys for Ailes last week filed a motion in New Jersey, where the case originated, also seeking to have it moved to arbitration, citing Carlson’s employment agreement with Fox News.
Carlson leveled allegations last Wednesday in a suit filed in Superior Court of New Jersey charging Ailes had propositioned her sexually and that she had suffered unfair treatment from Steve Doocy, her co-host for several years on “Fox & Friends,” the Fox News morning program. Carlson left the network in June. In a statement, Ailes has called her charges false and said they came in retaliation for her contact with Fox News not being renewed. Meanwhile, 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, said it will conduct an “internal review” into the charges made against both Ailes and Doocy.
Attorneys for Carlson suggested Friday they would work vigorously to block Ailes’ effort. The lawyers, Nancy Smith and Martin Hyman, said they had made a late filing in New Jersey and would later file a new motion to bolster their case. “After invoking jurisdiction of the New Jersey federal court and filing a motion there, Mr. Ailes decided that he doesn’t like the judge assigned to this case and he illegally is attempting to judge shop by now seeking to move the lawsuit to another jurisdiction,” said Nancy Smith, in a prepared statement. “We feel confident that the law will not allow such maneuvering.”
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A Fox News spokeswoman later said Ailes’ team was “trying to get this to the court where it belongs,” and accused Carlson of trying “to rig this case to deny Mr. Ailes the agreed-upon forum, which is arbitration.” The filing on behalf of Ailes suggested the case should be moved from New Jersey because neither Carlson nor Ailes resides there. Carlson’s lawyers have said Ailes has a residence in New Jersey.
The filings makes plain the difference in each side’s strategy. Carlson’s case is leveled against Ailes, not Fox News or its parent, while attorneys for Ailes have sought to make Carlson live by the rules of the employment contract she signed with the cable-news outlet.
The statement by Estrich, an attorney at the law firm of Quinn Emanuel, follows:
“Gretchen Carlson’s attorney has led a concerted smear campaign to prejudice the rights of Roger Ailes in this case. Her attempt to game the system so as to avoid the arbitration clause for her client’s baseless allegations is contrary to law and unsupported by the facts. Accordingly, we have taken the following action today: We have filed papers in the federal court in Manhattan to compel the arbitration of Carlson’s claims in New York City at the American Arbitration Association, as required by her Employment Agreement. At the same time, we have asked the federal district court in New Jersey to transfer the case to federal court in Manhattan, where it can be consolidated with the case we filed today. The court in Manhattan is the proper place to compel arbitration because (1) Carlson worked at Fox News in New York City, (2) her employment agreement requires arbitration in New York City, (3) she has based her claims solely on New York City law and (4) neither she nor Mr. Ailes resides in New Jersey.”
