Fox News Wins Former Employee's Defamation Suit

Fox News and its CEO Suzanne Scott have defeated a $120 million lawsuit from an ex-staffer who alleged she was defamed when Scott denied knowledge of Roger Ailes' sexual misconduct in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Laurie Luhn in April sued the company and Scott, alleging that she was sexual abused by Roger Ailes and defamed. Luhn reported the alleged abuse to the U.S. Attorney General's office in 2011 and later settled with Fox News, but says she was "coerced" into agreeing to it.

Laurie Luhn with the late Roger Ailes

Scott was named CEO in 2018 after two years of relentless press coverage of the company following numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against Ailes and his ouster from the company. The Los Angeles Times profiled her in April, and it's that story that sparked Luhn's lawsuit. In it, Scott says she "had no clue what was going on" in Ailes' office, despite being part of his inner circle, and told Fox employees that in meetings about improving the company culture for women.

Luhn alleged Scott's denial that she knew about Ailes' misconduct implied that Luhn fabricated allegations of sexual abuse and a cover-up. Fox in August filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim.

U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on Thursday sided with the network.

"Scott’s statements from the Los Angeles Times article were not 'of and concerning' Luhn, and no reasonable reader could have interpreted them as such," writes Friedrich. "Indeed, at no point does the Times article even reference Luhn."

But, even if they could be interpreted as being about Luhn, Friedrich finds Scott's statements weren't defamatory.