The former executive in charge of Good Morning America Michael Corn is now asking for the sexual assault lawsuit filed in August against him be dismissed. Corn’s representation is citing New York State’s “statute of limitations” on harassment claims. Corn is alleging the plaintiff, former GMA producer Kirstyn Crawford, has fabricated the sexual harassment claims against him.
The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint reported in mid-August that Crawford had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Corn in New York State court. Crawford said Corn assaulted her in 2015 during a business trip to Los Angeles, and that the incidents took place in an Uber ride after a party and later at their hotel.
According to new reporting from Variety’s Brian Steinberg, in Friday’s filing, which was made in New York State Supreme Court, Corn’s attorney argues that Crawford’s claims about the aforementioned 2015 incident cannot be brought before the court. The filing notes any incident that took place more than three years ago is “indisputably time-barred” under statute of limitations laws and is claiming that details of the event were fabricated.
Corn’s filing states, in part, “The allegations were a shock to Mr. Corn; the two were close friends and she had recently sought his advice as to whether to stay at ABC News,” the filing stated. The motion alleged Crawford “seeks to impugn and publicly injure her long-time colleague and friend for her own gain.”
The filing adds, “In sum, the claims against Mr. Corn should be dismissed as a matter of law. In the alternative, this Court should strike the scandalous and unnecessary allegations included solely to harass and unduly prejudice Mr. Corn in the public eye.”
Crawford’s original lawsuit alleged that former ABC producer Jill McClain was also sexually assaulted by Corn when the two worked at World News Tonight roughly a decade ago, before Corn transitioned to Good Morning America. McClain isn’t a plaintiff in Crawford’s lawsuit, but she is supporting it. McClain left ABC News in 2013.
Crawford’s suit alleges that GMA anchor George Stephanopoulos (with whom Crawford worked closely) heard about some of the claims against Corn by Crawford in 2017, and disclosed them to executives and urged Crawford to reach out to an ABC attorney to discuss further. However, Crawford, “fearing that making a formal complaint would do more harm than good or even result in losing her job,” did not follow up, according to the lawsuit.
Crawford’s lawsuit also names ABC as a defendant, alleging the network received complaints about Corn’s behavior from multiple women over roughly a decade ago, but didn’t discipline the veteran, high-ranking executive. In a previous statement, ABC said that it “disputes the claims made against it and will address this matter in court.”
Corn left ABC News in April around the time Kim Godwin joined the news division as president, and he is now president of the Nexstar Media Group-owned cable news outlet NewsNation.