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Judge Dismisses Claims Against Fox News in Assault Case

A federal judge has dismissed claims that Fox News was aware of a former employee's affairs and harassment in a sexual assault case

A federal judge dismissed claims made against Fox News Channel in a lurid assault case that involved a former associate producer and a former correspondent, noting that management of the cable-news outlet had no knowledge of any conflict or relationship between the two parties until it was notified she had levied sexual harassment claims against him. In the original suit, Eckhart alleged Henry, who had been an anchor on “America’s Newsroom,” the network’s mid-morning news program, “groomed, psychologically manipulated and coerced Ms. Eckhart into having a sexual relationship with him, and that, when she would not comply voluntarily, he sexually assaulted her on office property, and raped her at a hotel where Fox News frequently lodged its visiting employees.” The judge, Ronnie Abrams, said in a decision Wednesday that “there is no direct evidence that Fox News was aware of Henry’s alleged harassment of Eckhart before it occurred.

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