Chicago Radio: Judge Greenlights Lawsuit Vs. Eric Ferguson

Eric Ferguson

A Cook County judge gave an initial green light Wednesday to a lawsuit accusing former WTMX 101.9 FM morning host Eric Ferguson of coercing sexual favors from an assistant producer early in her career and retaliating against her for years after she refused to resume the brief sexual relationship, reports The Chicago Tribune.

In denying Ferguson’s motion to dismiss, Judge Daniel Kubasiak found the lawsuit’s claims at face value were sufficiently pleaded and allowed the civil proceeding to continue. Ferguson has until Jan. 12 to respond to the allegations raised by his former assistant producer, Cynthia DeNicolo.

DeNicolo was laid off from 101.9 FM in May 2020. In her lawsuit, filed a year later, she accused Ferguson of sexual misconduct and alleged he blocked raises and promotions throughout her 20-year career before orchestrating her dismissal.

Ferguson, 54, denies the allegations. Besides raising various legal challenges, including one based on the statute of limitations, his legal team argued in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit that DeNicolo cannot sue Ferguson because she signed a separation agreement that included a clause barring her from any future claim against management “in return for a substantial severance package.”

His lawyers argued that the general release from future litigation includes Ferguson who, though not named in the document, is described by DeNicolo as “all powerful over her career and advancement,” and therefore within the scope of management.

In a six-page written ruling allowing the suit to proceed, the judge punted the issue for now. He wrote that “whether (DeNicolo) did release all claims against (Ferguson) raises issues of fact that warrant further discovery.”

Ferguson, DeNicolo

Ferguson’s attorney, Peter Donati, said Wednesday the judge’s ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed “is not a ruling on the truth or falsity of (DeNicolo’s) allegations. The judge is simply saying discovery will be needed before he can decide whether her claims will be permitted to go to trial.”

Ferguson was sidelined from the morning program he led for 25 years in late October after the Tribune reported a month earlier that DeNicolo, 43, had sued him earlier in the year.

More allegations have followed from three other women who used to work at The Mix, including from Ferguson’s former co-host Melissa McGurren, who said in court filings that she left the show after he created an unbearably hostile work environment.

The women allege the management of 101.9 FM protected Ferguson because of the popularity of his show. Station management initially said Ferguson would be off the air through October. Then, in late October, a statement from Ferguson was circulated to station employees announcing he planned to “step away from the show” and felt “energized to move forward and defend myself against claims made against me and the station and look forward to seeing them through to their conclusion.

DeNicolo contends Ferguson orchestrated her dismissal using COVID-19 as a pretext nearly 16 years after she stopped providing oral sex about twice a month in 2004 in response to Ferguson’s demands, for which he allegedly used the code words, “I need a backrub.”

Melissa McGurren

She alleges Ferguson taunted her with the phrase throughout her tenure at the station. He also berated her in front of other workers and demanded personal favors, such as pressuring her to babysit his children for a decade beginning in 2003, leading her to be known around The Mix as “Eric’s babysitter,” the lawsuit said.

In Wednesday’s ruling, Kubasiak also ruled the lawsuit is not barred by a statute of limitations because DeNicolo alleged a pattern of misconduct that continued over several years and not just when the alleged sexual relationship ended in 2004. The complaint also accuses Ferguson of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

A representative for Hubbard Radio Chicago, which owns and operates The Mix, has said DeNicolo was laid off as part of companywide cuts described as a “response to the challenges presented by COVID-19.” Hubbard said it dismissed a dozen employees across its stations, which also include WDRV-FM 97.1 and adult contemporary WSHE-FM 100.3.

The company has said it immediately investigated DeNicolo’s allegations and “found no evidence to corroborate allegations of illegal workplace conduct,” according to an earlier statement.