A federal judge in New York has thrown out a defamation lawsuit filed against former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and the network.
U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Batts said Tuesday that former Fox producer Rachel Witlieb Bernstein’s allegations of defamation against the host and network are “wholly insufficient,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Bernstein alleged in the lawsuit, filed in December 2018, that O’Reilly violated a settlement agreement that was reached when she accused the former TV host of sexual misconduct against her. The agreement called on both sides not to disparage each other.
She claimed that O’Reilly made statements that were meant to portray her as an “extortionate, politically motivated liar.”
“Plaintiff alleges that she has suffered damages to her reputation, severe emotional distress, physical sickness, special damages, and loss of income as a ‘direct and proximate result’ of O’Reilly’s allegedly defamatory statements,” Batts said when granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss. “However, she neither explains how her losses flowed from the alleged defamation nor alleges any facts establishing what, if any, emotional and physical harms and reputational damage she specifically suffered.”
Batts said Bernstein can file an amended complaint, but would only allow her to bring up allegations against O’Reilly, not Fox.
Bernstein is one of a half dozen women who alleged O’Reilly engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior toward them and then said they signed settlement agreements not to come forward with the accusations.
