Chris Cuomo has officially fired the first volley in what appears to be a protracted legal battle with CNN over not just $125 million in cash, but also his character and family drama, following his December 2021 termination by Jeff Zucker.
Chris Cuomo Hits Back At CNN Smear Campaign
Chris Cuomo’s Freedman + Taitelman LLP and Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder LLP attorneys filed a petition for arbitration on Wednesday, claiming that “As a result of Turner’s indefensible choice to unceremoniously fire him, Chris Cuomo has been damaged in countless ways,”
“Cuomo has had his journalistic integrity unjustifiably smeared, making it difficult if not impossible for Cuomo to find similar work in the future and damaging him in amounts exceeding $125 million, which includes not only the remaining salary owed under the Agreement but future wages lost as a result of CNN’s efforts to destroy his reputation in violation of the Agreement. Cuomo now seeks to recover the full measure of his damages against Turner and CNN,”
Out of the claimed “Turner and CNN’s breach of the express provisions of the Agreement,” the $125 million is broken down into “consequential damages” of at least $110 million. Cuomo and his team believe the additional $15 million was due to him under his existing contract when he was fired “effective immediately” on December 4 by then-CNN president Zucker after sexual misconduct allegations were brought against the already-suspended presenter.
With Zucker’s bungled termination and compensation, as well as talent tub-thumping and future Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s appointment of Late Show EP Chris Licht to now skipper the cable news ship, CNN has experienced an avalanche of changes recently. All of this has made the ongoing Cuomo saga a dusty affair at times. Up until today, it felt like old news that Chris Cuomo‘s on-again, off-again connection with his elder brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, was what led to the young sibling’s suspension on November 30 last year and kicked off the chaotic sequence of events.
Why did CNN suspend Chris Cuomo?
With terminology like “smear campaign” being utilized, that attitude will undoubtedly flip with this new filing against CNN America Inc. and Turner Services Inc., both of which are represented by Daniel Petrocelli.
According to the arbitration complaint, one provision, in particular, was played out in public:
An additional, and similarly significant, legally unjustifiable breach of the Agreement was the complete failure by Zucker to abide by the terms of the Agreement by failing to instruct CNN employees not to disparage Cuomo. The Agreement requires that CNN “make reasonable efforts to instruct its employees not to make any intentionally disparaging comments regarding [Cuomo] in the context of [Cuomo’s] business and professional activities.”
In fact, not only did Zucker and CNN fail to instruct CNN employees not to disparage Cuomo, as required by the Agreement, but they themselves openly disparaged Cuomo in violation of the Agreement, with Zucker leading the charge. Before Cuomo was terminated, Zucker at first claimed that he had been unaware of Cuomo’s discussions with Gov.
Cuomo’s aides, when Zucker had done the same thing himself. After Cuomo’s termination, Zucker claimed that Cuomo had broken his word and that Cuomo misrepresented the extent of his support for his brother. Other CNN staff joined in the calculated campaign to smear Cuomo and destroy his reputation.
“It should by now be obvious that Chris Cuomo did not lie to CNN about helping his brother,” attorney Bryan Freedman said.
“In fact, as the limited information released from WarnerMedia’s investigation makes clear, CNN’s highest-level executives not only knew about Chris’s involvement in helping his brother but also actively assisted the Governor, both through Chris and directly themselves, As CNN has admitted, network standards were changed in a calculated decision to boost ratings. When those practices were called into question, Chris was made the scapegoat.” the founding partner of Freedman + Taitelman noted.
“The legal action filed today makes clear that CNN wrongfully terminated Chris and further violated the express terms of his employment agreement by allowing its employees to disparage him. Chris is owed a full apology from those responsible.”
Will terminating Chris Cuomo help CNN partially regain its credibility?
If the contractually required arbitration fails, the former Chris Cuomo Prime Time presenter appears intent on opposing the extremely well-compensated Zaslav’s goal for billions in savings from the planned WarnerMedia and Discovery merger on his own. Whether the arbitration is conducted behind closed doors or not, today’s bold action will undoubtedly be nasty for the merged firm, as Cuomo’s team makes good on their previously suggested threat to lift the filthy curtain on what was actually going on during Zucker’s rule.
CNN’s next move will be to react to today’s filing with its own documentation on whether it feels there is a legitimate disagreement to arbitrate here — which may bring the case into the public eye.
