Despite departing Fox News last summer, Roger Ailes was still facing several lawsuits against him. With his death today, there is some uncertainty about the future of the litigation against him.
“The sudden passing of Roger Ailes will make it difficult for Fox News to refute the allegations against him as his testimony was not secured by sworn testimony,” said attorney Douglas Wigdor, who is representing more than a dozen people who have filed suits against Fox for racial and sexual harassment. Wigdor is also representing Lidija Ujkic, a reporter for New York’s local Fox station, who named Ailes in a suit she filed in April.
Also in April, Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky filed suit against Ailes. We reached out to her attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, who said, “that’s not a discussion for today.”
Former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros sued Ailes last August. Her attorney Judd Burstein released a statement writing, “Roger Ailes has left behind a grieving widow and a teenage child. They did nothing wrong, and surely deserve our sympathy. As such, any comment about Mr. Ailes at this time would be unseemly and heartless.”
Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor whose lawsuit against Ailes last July led to his resignation from the network, settled with the company in September for $20 million dollars.