O’Reilly and Fox News Seek to Dismiss Defamation Suit

Lawyers for Bill O’Reilly and Fox News on Tuesday argued for the dismissal of the defamation lawsuit brought against them by three women who reached harassment settlements involving O’Reilly, asserting that they had not disparaged the women because any comments they made were not directed at the women and did not refer to them.

O’Reilly shot back at two of the women, stating that they had violated the confidentiality provisions of their settlements and that he would bring claims against them “in the proper, arbitral forum.”

The lawsuit concerns statements made by O’Reilly and 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, and Rupert Murdoch, the company’s executive chairman, in the aftermath of a New York Times investigation that exposed how the network stood by O’Reilly as he faced a series of harassment allegations.

The six publicly known settlements involving O’Reilly — five for sexual harassment and one for verbal abuse — total about $45 million.

The women asserted in the lawsuit, which was filed in December in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, that comments by O’Reilly, Murdoch and the company had depicted them as liars, political operatives and extortionists.

After the public exposure of harassment settlements and allegations against him, O’Reilly said the claims that led to his ouster from Fox News in April had no merit, that he “never mistreated anyone,” that he was the victim of a “political and financial hit job,” that his fame had made him a target and that he “put to rest any controversies to spare” his children.

The women who filed the lawsuit are Andrea Mackris, a former producer on O’Reilly’s show on Fox News who sued him for sexual harassment in 2004; Rebecca Gomez Diamond, a former host on Fox Business Network who reached a settlement with O’Reilly in 2011; and Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, a former Fox News employee who settled with the network in 2002 after she repeatedly complained about O’Reilly’s behavior to the human resources department and other executives.

Bernstein is also suing for breach of contract. Her allegations did not include sexual harassment.

The lawyers for O’Reilly and Fox News said the claims by Mackris and Diamond should be moved to confidential arbitration proceedings because of stipulations in their settlement agreements, heavily redacted versions of which were included in the filing.

“There is a certain irony that, by filing and publicizing this lawsuit, plaintiffs have brought more attention upon themselves than O’Reilly’s comments, which were never directed at or referred to plaintiffs, ever did,” lawyers for O’Reilly said. They added that Mackris and Diamond had violated their confidentiality agreements — “Mackris by inviting a New York Times reporter and photographer into her home, and Diamond through social media.”

“O’Reilly will, in the proper, arbitral forum, assert claims against Mackris and Diamond for breach of these agreements,” his lawyers said.

According to court documents filed Tuesday, O’Reilly said the defamation claims were “frivolous and wholly unsupported in law or fact” and that none of his statements would expose the women to “public shame or ridicule.”

“O’Reilly’s statements consist of his opinions concerning the unbalanced journalism that went into stories published about him and his critique of the advocacy groups that organized a sponsor boycott against him and his top-rated show,” his lawyers said. “Such statements of opinion are protected and cannot serve as a basis for a defamation claim.”

In the lawsuit, the women said Murdoch had disparaged and defamed them during an interview with Sky News in London, during which he characterized sexual harassment issues at Fox News as being isolated to Roger Ailes.

The women also took issue with the company’s statement that “no current or former Fox News employee ever took advantage of the 21st Century Fox hotline to raise a concern about Bill O’Reilly.”

Lawyers for Fox News said in the court filing Tuesday that the network could not be held liable for the statements made by its parent company or O’Reilly. They added that statements by 21st Century Fox and Murdoch were not defamatory because they had not “mentioned any of the plaintiffs, provided any details of their settlements, or cast any doubt on the merits of their claims.”

Lawyers for O’Reilly and the network said they had not breached Bernstein’s settlement agreement because O’Reilly was not a party to the agreement and there was “no allegation that Fox News disclosed anything about Bernstein’s settlement or the facts leading up to it.”