O'Reilly sues Manhattan Attorney's law firm and Fox News employee

[Bush was AWOL]

O'Reilly Sues Manhattan Attorney, His Law Firm and Employee in Extortion Scheme

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 13, 2004--Bill O'Reilly, host of the FOX News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, filed suit today in Nassau County Supreme Court against a Manhattan attorney, his law firm, Morelli & Associates, and a FOX News employee for attempting to extort $60 million dollars from Mr. O'Reilly.


Benedict P. Morelli, a Manhattan attorney, and the FOX News employee, threatened to sue Mr. O'Reilly and FOX News claiming Mr. O'Reilly allegedly engaged in offensive conversations with the employee. The employee worked for Mr. O'Reilly for four years before moving to Cable News Network (CNN) earlier this year. After just five months at CNN, the employee asked Mr. O'Reilly to return to Fox News, and did so in July of this year.

The complaint filed by Mr. O'Reilly alleges that Mr. Morelli and the employee engaged in an extortion attempt by threatening to file a well-publicized lawsuit and demanding an exorbitant financial settlement for hush money. The complaint describes Mr. Morelli's demand that Mr. O'Reilly pay the pair "nothing less than $60 million." In addition, Mr. Morelli claimed he "wanted to punish not only O'Reilly, but FOX News."

Mr. O'Reilly said, "As a public figure, I have received many threats. But enough is enough...the threats stop now. I will not give in to extortion." While Mr. O'Reilly is seeking unspecified damages, he stated that he would donate "one hundred percent" of the monetary damages to charity.

(More)

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041013005519&newsLang=en

[tom_paine]

1. Looks like Tough-Guy O'Reichley is a sue-happy (w)ussy!

Naturally.

Lawsuit filers are scum...well except for O'Reichley and the rest of his Party-Loyal Sub-Media Pravda Whores!

[BlueEyedSon]

11. Yeah, let's see him do it WITHOUT a lawyer!

[AspenRose]

28. "Sue-happy wussy" = Vexatious Litigant

That's the technical term.

And some states have laws on the books regarding vexatious litigants.

[mdredmond]

32. RE: Sue-happy wussy" = Vexatious Litigant

Yeah, but the vexatious litigant statutes almost always require that you sue and LOSE multiple times - that establishes a rebuttable presumption (in future cases) that you are vexatious. Wins and out-of-court settlements don't count.

[Catholic Sensation]

38. Fox News sued Franken, not Bill O'Reilly technically

so unless he's filed other lawsuits and lost, he really can't be legally deemed a vexatious litigant.

[movonne]

31. Gee, I hope he is not using a lawyer....lawyers are bad.....

[rkc3]

2. Is this one of those frivolous lawsuits?

[Rose Siding]

3. So then, he's opposed to damages caps?

I expect he'll be coming out for consumers' and patients' bills of rights in the near future :shrug:

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. He's been making the rounds lately

like the Daily Show, and I smell the beginnings of someone who's going to try and change his spots. He's trying to be more "likeable".

Ain't gonna work! He's an opportunist and a <Franken voice> LIAR! </Franken voice>

[andyhappy]

16. I noticed that too

he was great on the daily show. Making fun of himself and his comments and all. Very un'O'Reilly-like.

Sounds like Mr. O is smelling a change in the wind

(loved it when John said, "I'm gonna turn off my own mike!)

[andyhappy]

17. cool avatar by the way

;)

[Norquist Nemesis]

24. Thanks! and

Welcome! :hi:

[ET Awful]

5. Did he have to hire a trial lawyer for that? n/t

[zbdent]

7. I think that Rush Limbaugh's attorney is rather busy right now

trying to save one huge right-wing ass . . . he doesn't have the time or the ability to take on two huge right-wing asses . . .

[LiberalFighter]

43. You mean save the boil on his right-wing ass

[progressivebydesign]

6. Gosh... what did O'Reilly DO that made him a target??

I can only imagine what the lawsuit would have been...

[ewagner]

8. Sounds like

a pre-emptive strike to keep the bad news from getting out first.

Also....I don't want to hear the words "trial Lawyer" out of his lying mouth again.

[cal04]

9. How did Kerry/dems get into this

It is apparent that Defendants’ outrageous monetary demand is motivated by their greed and also by Morelli’s political connections. Morelli, his firm, and his wife, Arlene, are known supporters of and contributors to the Democratic Party, contributing to the campaigns of U.S. Senators John Kerry, John Edwards, Tom Daschle, and Charles Schumer, among others. He perceives Fox and O’Reilly as politically conservative and supporters of the Republican Party. If he does not receive his share of $60 million, he would like nothing more than to embarrass and tarnish the reputations of Fox and O’Reilly.

The extortion attempt is timed to cause the maximum disruption and damage to Fox and O’Reilly. Fox News coverage and O’Reilly’s program in particular have consistently drawn higher ratings during election periods, and the upcoming, tightly-contested Presidential election between Senator John Kerry and President George W. Bush has been drawing record-setting ratings for The O’Reilly Factor and Fox News Channel programming. In fact, Fox News Channel is the most highly rated cable news network in the United States and has continued to increase its lead over CNN in recent years. Its expectation has been that viewership, and thus revenues, will continue to increase, particularly as the electorate becomes even more involved with the presidential race.

By sending the September 29, 2004 demand letter and threatening to bring suit within “five business days” over alleged harassment that allegedly commenced more than two years earlier in May 2002, Mackris and Morelli have sought to extract maximum leverage against Fox and O’Reilly right before the presidential election.

Defendants have not acted in good faith. Instead, they have sought to extort “blood money” by threatening to destroy O’Reilly, his family and his career, and to embarrass and severely injure Fox’s reputation and financial interests. Accordingly, judicial intervention is required.


http://www.drudgereport.com/fox.htm

[AlCzervik]

13. I hate drudge, i hate O'Reilly

but they hate each other, this should be interesting.

[plcdude]

10. What is the real story here

the site does not work for me is there somewhere reputable to read about the charges and the whole situation on this matter?

[cal04]

12. Link to filing

http://www.drudgereport.com/fox.htm

[plcdude]

18. how about a reliable source

on this.

[yardwork]

36. Here's the news story http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041013

How embarrassing for Fox to be dragged into this mess! I feel soooo sorry for them.

[JPace]

14. If the employee was doing blackmail he was wrong....

I think he should have written a tell all book
instead.

[okieinpain]

30. she

[Red State Rebel]

15. The filing is interesting - sounds like extortion

The producer and her attorneys threatened to go public with the allegations unless they paid 60 million. According to the filing, he never touched her, it was apparently verbal. Lots of strange info.

I can't stand O'Reilly and I've heard him talk to other women in what I felt was a sexist manner so it wouldn't suprise me at all to hear that he said something harrassing to a woman. Unfortunately, the way she and her attorneys went about this may cause her claim to be lost in the publicity.

[denverbill]

19. We need TORT REFORM to stop these FRIVILOUS LAWSUITS! n/t

[Senator Lamb]

21. war

a new strategy needs to involve divide and conquer. drudge hates O'Reilly, I dont think Hannity likes O'Reilly either. lets them against each other. after all, in the end it isnt ideology, its ego.

[Gavinicus]

20. O'Reilly is a sue-happy blathermonkey

The correct response to extortion like he describes is "publish and be damned." If some lawyer threatened to sue him and offered a quiet settlement, call the bluff.

He tried to use the courts for improper purposes against Franken and this is just another example. It looks to me like he's trying to taint the well before the real lawsuit is filed against him.

First post from a long-standing lurker.

[IdaBriggs]

27. Welcome OUT in DU! <smile> nt

[yardwork]

37. Welcome to posting on DU - I think you are right about preemption

Also, sounds like Ol'Lie-ly is using this as an attempt to make Kerry look bad. Won't work. The only thing that will penetrate the dense skulls of Fox-watchers is that Fox and Ol'Lie-ly are involved in some kind of messy and embarrassing lawsuit involving SEX! Screech!

[doreme]

45. nope.

Even that won't work. They would just move the goalposts.

[daleo]

22. Sounds like a pre-emptive strike

Like he is trying to scare off a lawsuit himself with this one. I seriously doubt anyone would try to extort $60 million from him, even if they had the goods on him. He should have claimed a more realistic amount. They must have some pretty damning evidence against him.

[Democat]

34. If true, hopefully more people will come forward about his advances

In time we will find out if O'Reilly is some sort of perverted sexual predator or not.

It is very possible that he is trying to sue first, before the people who he might have abused can get their lawsuit filed.

[mumon]

23. SLAPP suit?

I wonder what the guy has on O'Reilly- maybe him with a German Shepard Smith that won't take "no" for an answer???

[DFWJock]

25. Did they

try to take away his Peabody award?

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

26. How many people has O'Really? sued this year?

Christ, that guy is just clogging up the legal system single-handed.

...I think he jerks off with the other.

[CityHall]

29. Swift Boat Vets are not a charity n/t

[dave123williams]

33. This has probably got about as much merit as his Franken suit.

[brooklynite]

35. Maybe we could take up a collection?

All of these attacks on poor Bill must be taking a terrible emotional toll.

[SoCalDem]

39. "Some" republican love Junk Lawsuits..

Maybe he's just trying to get in one last junk lawsuit, before his hero-man abolishes them:)

[baldguy]

40. TSG has it

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1013042oreilly1.html

[demoman123]

42. She obviously has some of his phone sex attempts on tape.

Her lawsuit against him is here:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1013043mackris1.html

The quotes in the filing sound like some teenager fantasizing about using sex toys, etc.

With all his money, why didn't he just pay a hooker? He could afford some really expensive ones. Instead he does this?

Amazing.

[info being]

41. My RW buddie just told me...

This lawsuite is to pre-empt a SEXUAL HARRASSMENT suite that is to be filed against O'Reilly.

[Disturbed]

44. "why didn't he just pay a hooker?"

Hello! Sexual harrassment isn't about sex. Hmmmm.... It's about power over another. Hiring a hooker wouldn't do because that would be pretend power. Humiliating another person is the object in harrassment. Some people can never satisfy their bottomless quest for power over others. Perhaps it is an illness of some sort?