Howard Stern is difficult the lawsuit filed in opposition to him by his former government assistant, which seeks $2.5 million and a courtroom order voiding his nondisclosure settlement.
In an effort to dismiss the case filed Wednesday, Stern alleges that the assistant, Leslie Kuhn, tried to extort a secret sum of cash from him and his manufacturing firm earlier than suing. He denies claims he fostered a hostile work setting, calling the lawsuit a shakedown.
“We’re not going to play this in public,” Ilene Farkas, lawyer for the SiriusXM host, mentioned in a press release. “The Sterns have the best to implement nondisclosure agreements signed by workers who enter their houses and privateness, and so they have filed a movement to assessment the lawsuit and the conduct of Ms. Kuhn and her lawyer.”
The authorized battle started final month when Kuhn sued Stern, his spouse and his manufacturing firm, One Twelve. She was employed by SiriusXM in 2022 as workplace supervisor for The Howard Stern Present and later turned the host’s government assistant. Earlier this 12 months, she was fired for an undisclosed motive that she mentioned was truly resulting from strain from an animal foster group run by Stern’s spouse, in accordance with the criticism.
On the middle of the dispute: two separate confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements. Kuhn claimed she by no means signed. The paperwork cowl the private affairs of everybody concerned with One Twelve, together with Stern’s household and pals, in addition to the host’s day by day actions, private habits and political affiliations, amongst different issues. Kuhn is looking for a courtroom order declaring the agreements unenforceable so she will be able to reply to the “accusations in opposition to her” and “shield her repute and future employment prospects,” in accordance with the lawsuit.
Within the submitting Wednesday, Stern mentioned he by no means meant to debate Kuhn’s firing and deliberate to offer a impartial reference if requested. It cites proof indicating she knowingly signed the paperwork, pointing to an change in 2022 through which she despatched The Howard Stern Present manufacturing supervisor a confidentiality settlement together with his signature. And when requested to revisit a nondisclosure settlement in 2025, she wrote in an e mail: “Signed NDA connected,” in accordance with the criticism.
The submitting alleges that Stern knowledgeable Kuhn and her lawyer, John Leonard, of proof displaying she had signed the paperwork earlier than suing. He’s looking for a courtroom order sanctioning them for allegedly weaponizing the authorized course of and mendacity to the courtroom.
“The rationale Kuhn filed this lawsuit was to strain the Stern events into making an outlandish fee to make her go away,” the submitting states. “And the one motive Kuhn’s firing turned public is as a result of Kuhn and his lawyer selected to make it public by submitting this lawsuit and looking for to mobilize the press.”
If Stern’s request to dismiss the lawsuit is granted, the confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements will stay legitimate and enforceable. Underneath these paperwork, Kuhn is not going to have the best to reveal private details about, amongst different issues, the SiriusXM host.