Fox Producer's Lawsuit Followed a Critical Job Performance Review

A Fox News producer who worked for hosts Maria Bartiromo and Tucker Carlson filed a pair of lawsuits against the network Monday, alleging its legal team "coerced" her into giving misleading testimony in the ongoing defamation case brough by Dominion Voting Systems and accusing the company of fostering a "toxic" work environment.

Abby Grossberg, who joined Fox in 2019 as a senior booking producer on Bartiromo's Sunday morning show and eventually became head of booking on Carlson's primetime program, claimed that Fox's lawyers "coerced, intimidated, and misinformed" her while they were preparing her for deposition testimony in the $1.6 billion lawsuit filed by Dominion against Fox News.

Before joining the network, Grossberg worked for several other news outlets, including CBS News.

Abby Grossberg

In one complaint filed in federal district court in New York, Grossberg alleges that Fox's legal team indicated she should respond with a generic "I do not recall" to as many questions as possible during a September 2022 deposition, which she claimed was an effort to shift responsibility for the alleged defamation against Dominion onto her and Bartiromo "rather than the mostly male higher ups at Fox News who endorsed the repeated coverage of the lies against the Dominion."

Dominion has accused Fox News executives and its hosts of knowingly airing false claims about the company after the 2020 presidential election in an effort to boost its ratings. Revelations from Dominion's ongoing dispute with Fox News and the claims in Grossberg's lawsuits further have shed light on what was taking place behind the scenes after the presidential contest and the atmosphere surrounding the network's most popular hosts.

In response to Grossberg's lawsuit, a Fox News spokesperson said the network "engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms. Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review. Her allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless and we will vigorously defend Fox against all of her claims."

Grossberg's attorney, Gerry Filippatos, said the network placed her on forced administrative leave after she informed them of the forthcoming lawsuits.

On Tuesday, Fox News pulled its counter lawsuit that sought a gag order against Grossberg, a move they made less than 24 hours after she made headlines for her suit against the company.

“PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that, pursuant to CPLR 3217(a)(1), Plaintiff Fox News Network, LLC, hereby discontinues this proceeding, without prejudice, and without costs to any party,” reads Fox News’ notice.