Andy Cohen and the producers of The Real Housewives of New York City are clapping back at the claims Leah McSweeney made against them in her discrimination lawsuit.
Credit: Bravo
Months after Leah, 41, sued Andy, Shed Media, and Bravo, accusing them of disability discrimination, sex discrimination, and creating a hostile work environment, among other claims, Andy, 56, and his team are requesting a judge put the case on pause until a decision is made regarding their request to dismiss the lawsuit.
In court documents obtained by In Touch Weekly on August 7, Andy and his fellow defendants ask that they not be forced to produce discovery until their dismissal request receives a response.
“[Leah’s] disability-related claims are based on the (false) allegations that Defendants discriminated against [Leah] by encouraging her to relapse on alcohol during filming of The Shows, directing cast members to say offensive comments to her on-camera, and declining to cast her on future seasons of RHONY because Defendants purportedly prefer to depict cast members who drink alcohol, all in service of ratings. Defendants dispute these allegations,” their letter stated.
Andy’s lawyer also argued, “[Leah] only seeks money damages, and therefore would not be prejudiced by a stay. By contrast, absent a stay, the parties—and non-parties—would be required to devote substantial time and resources to discovery, despite the likelihood that Plaintiff’s claims would be dismissed. And the fact that [Leah] has not served discovery requests in the five months since she filed the Complaint belies any suggestion of urgency.”
The defendants stated that Leah’s lawsuit against them should be dismissed, highlighting Leah’s “weak” claims.
“[Leah’s] religious discrimination claims are based on one alleged incident: the alleged failure to provide a non-pork option at one meal during filming of RHUGT. Even if this alleged incident occurred precisely as Plaintiff describes (which it did not), it is, at most, a petty slight or trivial inconvenience that is insufficient to support a claim,” they wrote.
Leah appeared on the 12th and 13th seasons of RHONY and was also featured on The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip season three before filing her case.
Leah’s lawsuit, filed in February, stated, “Defendants established a rotted workplace culture that uniquely depended on pressuring its employees to consume alcohol. Defendants, however, abdicated the duties they owed to Ms. McSweeney, as her employer, to maintain a safe working environment and accommodate Ms. McSweeney’s disabilities including alcohol use disorder and mental health disorders.”
Her lawyer added, “Instead, Defendants with the knowledge that Ms. McSweeney struggled with alcohol use disorder, colluded with her colleagues to pressure Ms. McSweeney to drink, retaliated against her when she wanted to stay sober, and intentionally failed to provide reasonable accommodations that would aid her efforts to stay sober and able to perform.”
Leah also accused Andy, Shed Media, and Bravo of using “psychological warfare” to jeopardize her mental health for the sake of ratings and said Andy used cocaine with other cast members of the Real Housewives franchise and gave those women better edits on their respective shows.
In response to the case, Andy’s rep said, “The claims against Andy are completely false,” and a request for dismissal was filed.
At that time, a lawyer representing the parties wrote, “While [Leah] attempts to overwhelm with a 754-paragraph complaint, even a cursory review of her allegations reveals that many concern matters entirely irrelevant to her claims and most are devoid of any factual or legal support, speculative, misleading, and/or demonstrably false.”
“Many of [Leah’s] claims, supported only by the most conclusory and threadbare allegations, should be dismissed as a matter of law,” they continued. “The rest of [Leah’s] claims should be dismissed because they impermissibly seek to abridge Defendants’ First Amendment rights to tailor and adjust the messages they wish to convey in their creative works, including through cast selection and other creative decisions.”
Leah is seeking unspecified damages.
