Former Tucker Carlson Producer Settles with Fox News for $12M in Dominion Case

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A former producer of Tucker Carlson at Fox News has reached a settlement of $12 million with the network, ending her claims of a discriminatory workplace and coerced false testimony in Dominion Inc.’s defamation lawsuit, according to her lawyer on Friday.

Abby Grossberg’s settlement includes dropping all litigation against Fox Corp., Fox News Network, and her former colleagues, including Tucker Carlson himself. The agreement was disclosed through a “Notice of Voluntary Dismissal” filed in her lawsuit earlier this year in Manhattan federal court, which was subsequently accepted and closed by the judge.

Although the notice did not specify the details of the settlement, Grossberg’s attorney, Parisis G. Filippatos, confirmed in an interview that his client would receive $12 million.

In a statement, Fox News expressed satisfaction with resolving the matter outside the courtroom, stating, “We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation.”

Grossberg also released a statement, standing by her claims made in the Manhattan lawsuit and another lawsuit in Delaware State Superior Court. She expressed hope that the resolution signaled a positive step by Fox News regarding its treatment of women and minorities in the workplace.

According to the Manhattan lawsuit, Grossberg alleged that Fox’s legal team coerced, intimidated, and misled her during preparations for her testimony in the legal battle between the network and Dominion, an elections technology company.

She contended that she received inferior legal representation compared to her male counterparts at Fox News, leading to irreparable damage to her reputation and emotional well-being.

In April, just before the trial was set to begin, Fox News agreed to pay over $787 million to settle the lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems, relating to the network’s dissemination of false claims following the 2020 presidential election. The settlement was reached shortly before Tucker Carlson was expected to testify.

Less than a week later, on April 24, Carlson, the network’s most popular personality, was fired. Grossberg had worked as the “Head of Booking” for Carlson from September 5 to March.

In her federal lawsuit, Grossberg alleged a hostile and misogynistic work environment on Carlson’s show and claimed that she was pressured to provide misleading testimony during a pretrial deposition in the Dominion case.

Grossberg’s deposition was quoted by Dominion in one of its court filings, highlighting that Fox News hosts, producers, and executives were aware that statements regarding the 2020 election being “stolen” from President Donald Trump were false or knowingly disregarded the truth.

The lawsuit stated that Grossberg’s response to the question, “If someone says something untrue on one of your shows, do you think it’s important to correct it?” was manipulated due to coercion, presenting her in a negative light professionally.

According to the lawsuit, Grossberg requested a copy of her deposition transcript after the session and expressed concerns about its accuracy due to intimidating and confusing coaching she had received. However, Fox News lawyers withheld the transcript.

As excerpts from her uncorrected deposition were included in Dominion’s pretrial arguments, prominent media outlets began questioning Grossberg’s journalistic ethics and professionalism. This resulted in severe anxiety and stress for her, according to the lawsuit, due to the public distribution of the flawed transcript.

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