A New York jury has awarded Robert De Niro‘s former assistant $1.26 million in her lawsuit in opposition to the A-lister’s loan-out firm, Canal Productions, for gender discrimination and retaliation, in line with a consultant for plaintiff Graham Chase Robinson. De Niro was not discovered personally liable within the case.
Moreover, the jury rejected the actor’s counterclaim that she stole 5 million frequent flyer miles from the corporate.
Jurors took roughly 4 hours over a single day of deliberations to succeed in the decision. De Niro was not current within the courtroom when the choice was introduced.
The trial centered on fallout from when Robinson, who was employed by De Niro’s Canal Productions from 2008 to 2019 in varied positions from govt assistant to vp of manufacturing and finance, left the corporate. It concerned accusations that De Niro subjected her to vulgar feedback and assigned her home duties, like buttoning his shirt and washing his sheets, regardless of her lofty govt title.
After Robinson refused to signal a launch as soon as she resigned, De Niro sued her for stealing thousands and thousands of frequent-flyer miles and different property from Canal Productions. Robinson responded by submitting her personal lawsuit two months later, close to the precipice of the #MeToo motion, accusing the actor of gender discrimination and retaliation.
When De Niro testified on Oct. 31, he mentioned that the case was “nonsense.” He pressured, “It’s absurd.”
Requested whether or not he had discriminated in opposition to Robinson by assigning her sure duties, like scratching his again, De Niro instantly addressed his former worker, who was sitting within the room.
“Disgrace on you, Chase Robinson!” he mentioned.
The authorized drama drew in Tiffany Chen, De Niro’s girlfriend, when Robinson was informed to embellish his townhouse. The 2 started exchanging texts and emails relating to varied features of the residence. When she first met Robinson, Chen testified that she thought “[t]right here is one thing unsuitable along with her, very severely unsuitable along with her.” She mentioned that Robinson, who allegedly wouldn’t look her within the face, would transfer furnishings and prune their timber with out asking permission. “All of it appeared very jealous and territorial,” Chen mentioned at a deposition.
In 2019, Chen demanded De Niro discover a substitute as a result of she didn’t need Robinson round the home. She texted him, “I’m not gonna be completely satisfied till you inform me she is searching for her substitute” and “when you maintain her, you and I’ll ultimately have issues.” (One other of De Niro’s former assistants testified that her employment was terminated in 2003 on the request of his then-wife.) Whereas Chen wasn’t an worker of Canal, U.S. District Decide Lewis Liman discovered that she might have been performing as an “agent” of the corporate.
Authorized chaos ensued when De Niro balked at proposal from Robinson for her to signal a launch. He texted Chen, “The balls. the nerve. the chutzpah. the sense of entitlement, how dare her!”
David Sanford, a lawyer for Robinson, mentioned in a press release, “We’re delighted that the jury noticed what we noticed and returned a verdict in Chase Robinson’s favor in opposition to Robert De Niro’s firm, Canal Productions. Not solely did Ms. Robinson win her case in opposition to Canal however the jury fully vindicated Ms. Robinson by discovering De Niro’s claims in opposition to her to be with out benefit.”
