Andrea Tantaros, the former Fox News host who accused the network of spying on her while she changed clothes and installing spyware on her devices, had her lawsuit dismissed today.
Tantaros had previously sued the network for sexual harassment but those claims were sent to arbitration and are ongoing.
Tantaros alleged that the spying was in retaliation for her complaints about harassment. Here’s how BuzzFeed described those allegations:
Tantaros, who is now representing herself in the legal matter, said Ailes had a CCTV system that allowed him to see inside Fox News offices: “Fox offices are where most Fox female talent, including Ms. Tantaros, disrobed daily from their regular clothing into their on-air attire, sometimes multiple times a day... Upon information and belief Ailes was surreptitiously recording, both through audio and with hidden cameras, Tantaros (and others).”
She also alleged Ailes was recording a biannual trunk show organized by the wardrobe department in which all the female hosts “[disrobed] down to their undergarments to try on new on-air dresses for the next season, without even the benefit of a curtain.”
She also alleged that spyware had been installed on her computer and that her work Blackberry had an operating system that allowed the network to turn on the camera and microphone without her knowledge or permission.
Today, a federal judge dismissed all those claims. As CNN noted, the judge ruled Tantaros “failed to plausibly allege facts tying any of the defendants to the conduct she claims caused her injury.” The judge also ruled Tantaros failed to present “sufficient, non-conclusory facts showing that Defendants violated either the Wiretap Act or the [Stored Communications Act], much less that they did so with the intent to cause Plaintiff ‘severe emotional distress.’”
Tantaros represented herself in the case after going through three different sets of counsel.
(Tantaros image via screen grab)
Her lawsuit contains a bunch of things I believe would have been impossible to prove in court – which is why her attorneys abandoned the case. This doesn’t mean that Fox News didn’t engage in these behaviors – just that it would been way too steep of a hill for anyone to climb before a judge. My belief is that Fox News will now settle her harassment suit – for a lot less than the others they just did.
