Bill O'Reilly Headed to Arbitration

Disgraced Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is headed to Arbitration.

O’Reilly was booted from Fox News after it was revealed that many women had been paid tens of millions of dollars to settle sexual harassment claims against hi.

But yesterday, O’Reilly won a round in court. A federal judge ruled that former Fox News Anchor Laurie Dhue must first go to arbitration to pursue claims that O'Reilly defamed her.

Dhue says that her reputation was hurt in the aftermath of stories about O'Reilly's sexual misconduct. O'Reilly attempted to defend himself in the media by saying he was "vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want [him] to pay them to avoid negative publicity." He also spoke of "unfounded claims" and how he was "very confident the truth will come out."

A flurry of lawsuits followed. O'Reilly is also being sued by Andrea Mackris, Rebecca Diamond and Rachel Witlieb Bernstein over these comments.

In June, O'Reilly submitted a motion to compel arbitration in Dhue's lawsuit.

What made this no slam dunk was that O'Reilly wasn't a signatory in Dhue's settlement agreement with Fox. Instead, the television personality argued he was a beneficiary and that the claims in her lawsuit were "intertwined" with the subject matter of the settlement agreement.

U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Batts rejects Dhue's counterargument that O'Reilly can't compel arbitration because he is not a party to the contract and this defamation action wasn't a "similar dispute."

H/T MSN

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