Judge Dismisses Case Against Micheal Corn

A judge in New York State Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against former ABC News Producer and now head of Nexstar’s News Nation, Michael Corn.

Corn was alleged to have sexually assaulted a subordinate and to have created a toxic work environment at ABC News.

Corn was abruptly gone from ABC News, but the company, nor Corn said as to why?

Kirstyn Crawford, a Producer who worked with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, alleged that  Corn, the former top producer at “Good Morning America,” assaulted her and another staffer, Jill McClain, on different occasions over a span of multiple years.

Both women reported to Corn, who also for a time supervised “World News Tonight.”

Crawford also alleged she lost opportunities to advance at work after she began trying to avoid Corn.

“We are very pleased that the Court recognized that the claims asserted against Michael have no merit,” said Meredith Cavallaro, an attorney who represents Corn, via email.

The judge in the case said Crawford had not proven the existence of a hostile work environment.

Because the statute of limitations on the alleged assault has lapsed, the foundation of the case was proving that a hostile work environment had developed in the years that followed.

Variety writes that Crawford had claimed Corn assaulted her in 2015 during a trip to Los Angeles to cover the Academy Awards. The suit also alleged that Stephanopoulos heard about some of the claims against Corn by Crawford in 2017, and disclosed them to executives and urged Crawford to reach out to an ABC attorney to discuss further. But Crawford, “fearing that making a formal complaint would do more harm than good or even result in losing her job,” did not follow up, according to the suit.

H/T Variety