Chicago Radio: $10M Defamation Suit Vs. Hubbard's WTMX Dismissed

Eric Ferguson

A federal judge has dismissed Chicago radio host Melissa McGurren’s defamation lawsuit against her former employer, Hubbard Radio Chicago, whom she alleged falsely branded her a liar while responding to her harassment claims against former co-host Eric Ferguson.

The Chicago Tribune reports McGurren brought the $10 million claim in October in response to an email in which the company told its staff that it had “thoroughly investigated” her U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against Ferguson and did “not agree with Melissa’s characterization of events.”

Melissa McGurren

McGurren alleged the statement attacked her credibility and integrity and that a thorough review “was never conducted or, at a minimum, was a sham investigation,” according to her lawsuit.

In his recent written ruling, Judge Ronald Guzman found Hubbard Vice President Jeff England’s comments were nonactionable statements of opinion and did not fall into any of the five categories that Illinois law deems to be defamatory.

The judge granted Hubbard’s motion to dismiss McGurren’s lawsuit on March 1. Her attorney, Carmen D. Caruso, said in a statement he is disappointed in the court’s ruling and is “reviewing the path forward. And we are confident of our client’s underlying claims against Hubbard and look forward to our hearing in arbitration.”

Attorneys for Hubbard, meanwhile, quickly seized on the ruling as a victory. On Friday, they asked another federal judge presiding over an earlier defamation lawsuit against Hubbard to adopt Guzman’s reasoning and dismiss that claim as well.

In that earlier federal lawsuit, former assistant producer Cynthia DeNicolo alleged Hubbard defamed her in statements that it “found no evidence to corroborate allegations of illegal workplace conduct” after she accused Ferguson of coercing her into sexual acts in 2004.

DeNicolo also has filed a separate lawsuit against Ferguson in Cook County court. Ferguson was sidelined from the morning program he led for 25 years in late October, shortly after the Tribune reported that DeNicolo had sued him earlier in the year.

More allegations against Ferguson followed from three other women who used to work at The Mix, including McGurren, who said in court filings that she left the show after Ferguson created an unbearably hostile work environment. She and the other women allege management protected him because of his popularity.