A judge has granted Howard Stern‘s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by his former executive assistant. The ex-employee had accused the radio show host and his wife of creating a “hostile work environment.”
Howard Stern scores court victory in ‘hostile work environment’ case
New York State Supreme Court judge Melissa A. Crane granted Howard Stern’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by his former executive assistant Leslie Kuhn. In a Wednesday ruling, the judge stated that Kuhn’s claims against Stern “are moot.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint is granted and the complaint is dismissed in its entirety,” Judge Crane stated, adding, “with costs and disbursements to defendants as taxed by the Clerk of the Court, and the Clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly in favor of defendants.”
The ruling comes two months after Kuhn accused Stern and his wife Beth, of creating a “hostile work environment.” The former employee filed a complaint against the couple on April 5, where she alleged that they had “questionable business operations.”
Kuhn’s attorney, John J. Leonard, claimed, “Kuhn contends that her termination was the result of, among other things, a hostile work environment and enablement of that hostile work environment, immense pressures on the household created by irresponsible and untenable animal rescue and fostering operations occurring on-site, and massively disorganized and questionable business operations and accounting practices.”
On Wednesday, April 29, Howard and Beth filed a motion to dismiss Kuhn’s suit. The couple’s attorney argued that Kuhn’s complaint was a “thinly veiled attempted shakedown.” They further claimed that Kuhn “hatched a plan to extract a staggering ‘hush-money’ payment” from her former employers.
Stern’s attorney gave a statement at the time, saying, “We are not going to play this out in public.” They added, “The Sterns are entitled to enforce nondisclosure agreements signed by employees who enter their home and their private life” (via Entertainment Weekly).
