A New York has tossed out a lawsuit brought by a producer who accused Michael Corn, a former top producer at Good Morning America,of sexual assault.
Judge Barbara Jaffe ruled on Wednesday that the statute of limitations had lapsed on the claims made by Kirstyn Crawford. In her lawsuit filed last year, Crawford claimed that Corn assaulted her while they were traveling in Los Angeles in February 2015 for coverage of the Academy Awards.
Corn, who left ABC News in April, 2021, denied the allegations and called them “demonstrably false.” He is now president of news programming for NewsNation.
In her dismissal (read it here), Jaffe also rejected Crawford’s claim that Corn created a hostile work environment since 2015, as she contended that she was denied a promotion and a raise in retaliation. The judge wrote that the incidents that Crawford described “all constitute discrete and isolated events that, while boorish, ill-advised, and inappropriate, do not create a hostile work environment, much less a continuing violation. Much of the conduct, moreover, was not directed at plaintiff.”
Crawford’s attorney Milt Williams said that they plan to appeal.
Meredith Cavallaro, Crawford’s attorney, did not immediately return a request for comment. But in a statement to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported on the dismissal, she said, “We are very grateful the court recognized the total lack of merit to the allegations brought against Mr. Corn.”
The judge also dismissed a series of claims that Crawford made against ABC News, which was also named as a defendant, including quid pro quo harassment, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. But the judge ordered Crawford’s attorney to file an amended complaint that still keeps alive an additional claim against the network. After the lawsuit was filed last year, ABC News called Crawford’s claims of retaliation “untrue.”