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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 08/29/2016 03:17 PM INDEX NO. 157054/2016 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 8 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 08/29/2016 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK --------------------------------------- x : ANDREA TANTAROS, : Plaintiff, : : - against - : : FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC, ROGER : Index No. 157054/2016 AILES, WILLIAM SHINE, DIANNE : BRANDI, IRENA BRIGANTI, and SUZANNE : SCOTT, : : : : Defendants. : --------------------------------------- x MEMORANDUM OF LAW OF DEFENDANTS FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC, WILLIAM SHINE, DIANNE BRANDI, IRENA BRIGANTI, AND SUZANNE SCOTT IN SUPPORT OF THEIR MOTION TO COMPEL ARBITRATION Of Counsel: Ronald M. Green David W. Garland Barry Asen FIRM:39010675 1 of 22 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF AUTHORITIES .......................................................................................................... ii PRELIMINARY STATEMENT .................................................................................................... 1 STATEMENT OF FACTS ............................................................................................................. 2 A. Tantaros’s Employment and Employment Agreement....................................................... 2 B. Fox News’ Demand for Arbitration.................................................................................... 3 ARGUMENT.................................................................................................................................. 6 I. THIS COURT SHOULD ORDER THAT TANTAROS’S CLAIMS AGAINST FOX NEWS MUST BE ARBITRATED.......................................................................6 II. THIS COURT SHOULD ORDER THAT TANTAROS’S CLAIMS AGAINST THE INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS MUST BE ARBITRATED. ............................11 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................. 14 ADDENDUM .............................................................................................................................A-1 i FIRM:39010675 FIRM:39010675v2 2 of 22 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page A. CASES Amisil Holdings Ltd. v. Clarium Capital Mgmt. LLC, 622 F. Supp. 2d 825 (N.D. Cal. 2007) .....................................................................................11 Apple & Eve, LLC v. Yantai North Andre Juice Co. Ltd., 610 F. Supp. 2d 226 (E.D.N.Y. 2009) .......................................................................................9 Arnold v. Arnold Corp.-Printed Commc’ns for Bus., 920 F.2d 1269 (6th Cir. 1990) ...........................................................................................11, 14 Brener v. Becker Paribas, Inc., 628 F. Supp. 442 (S.D.N.Y. 1985)..............................................12 Cicchetti v. Davis Selected Advisors, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20747 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 17, 2003) ........................................................................................................14 Cusimano v. Schnurr, 26 N.Y.3d 391 (2015) ................................................................................10 Dassero v. Edwards, 190 F. Supp. 2d 544 (W.D.N.Y. 2002)........................................................14 DiBello v. Salkowitz, 4 A.D.3d 230 (1st Dep’t 2004)....................................................................13 Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. Distajo, 107 F.3d 126 (2d Cir. 1997)................................................10 Dumnire v. Lee, 14 Misc. 3d 813 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County 2006)....................................................12 Fletcher v. Kidder, Peabody & Co., 81 N.Y.2d 623 (1993)............................................................8 Gateson v. ASLK-Bank, N.V., 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9004 (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 29, 1995) .....................................................................................................8, 12 Gavlik Constr. Co. v. H. F. Campbell Co., 526 F.2d 777 (3d Cir. 1975)......................................10 Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20 (1991)........................................................6 Hirschfield Productions, Inc. v. Mirvish, 88 N.Y.2d 1054 (1996) ................................................11 Ivax Corp. v. B. Braun of Am., 286 F.3d 1309 (11th Cir. 2002)....................................................10 Lee v. Chica, 983 F.2d 883 (8th Cir. 1993) ...................................................................................11 Letizia v. Prudential Bache Securities, Inc., 802 F.2d 1185 (9th Cir. 1986).................................11 ii FIRM:39010675 FIRM:39010675v2 3 of 22 Liberty Mgmt. & Constr. Ltd. v. Fifth Ave. & Sixty-Sixth St. Corp., 208 A.D.2d 73 (1st Dep’t 1995) ................................................................................................7 Louis Dreyfus Negoce S.A. v. Blystad Shipping & Trading Inc., 252 F.3d 218 (2d Cir. 2001).....................................................................................................10 Merrill Lynch Intl. Fin., Inc. v. Donaldson, 27 Misc. 3d 391 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County 2010) ...................................................................................................12 Mosca v. Doctors Assocs., 852 F. Supp. 152 (E.D.N.Y. 1993) .....................................................14 Moses H. Cone Memorial Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1 (1983) .............................6 Oldroyd v. Elmira Savings Bank, 134 F.3d 72 (2d Cir. 1998).........................................................7 Powers v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 923 F. Supp. 21 (S.D.N.Y. 1996) ....................................8 PPG Indus. v. Webster Auto Parts, 128 F.3d 103 (2d Cir. 1997)....................................................9 Pritzker v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 7 F.3d 1110 (3d Cir. 1993).......................................................................................................11 Ragone v. Atlantic Video, 595 F.3d 115 (2d Cir. 2010).................................................................13 Roby v. Corp. of Lloyd’s, 996 F.2d 1353 (2d Cir. 1993) ...............................................................11 Shapiro v. Prudential Securities, Inc., 233 A.D.2d 384 (2d Dep’t 1996)........................................8 Smith Barney Harris Upham & Co. v. Luckie, 85 N.Y.2d 193 (1995)............................................6 South Huntington Jewish Center, Inc. v. Heyman, 282 A.D.2d 684 (2d Dep’t 2001)...............................................................................................8 Thyssen, Inc. v. Calypso Shipping Corp., S.A., 310 F.3d 102 (2d Cir. 2002) .................................9 Tong v. S.A.C. Capital Mgmt., LLC, 52 A.D.3d 386 (1st Dep’t 2008)............................................7 Valdes v. Swift Transp. Co., 292 F. Supp. 2d 524 (S.D.N.Y. 2003)................................................8 Westinghouse Elec. Corp. v. N.Y.C. Transit Auth., 82 N.Y.2d 47 (1993) .......................................7 Zuckerman v. CB Richard Ellis Real Estate Servs., 2013 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1938 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County May 3, 2013)....................................................................9 iii FIRM:39010675 FIRM:39010675v2 4 of 22 B. STATUTES AND OTHER AUTHORITIES Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq..........................................................................6, 9, 10 New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y.C. Adm. Code § 8-101 et seq ......................8, 12, 13, 14 New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 7503(a) .........................................................................11 New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law § 290 et seq. ............................8, 12, 13, 14 iv FIRM:39010675 FIRM:39010675v2 5 of 22 Defendants Fox News Network, LLC (“Fox News”), William “Bill” Shine, Dianne Brandi, Irena Briganti and Suzanne Scott (collectively “Defendants”) hereby move to compel the arbitration of Plaintiff Andrea Tantaros’s complaint at the American Arbitration Association (the “AAA”) in New York City in accordance with the arbitration provision in her Employment Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Fox News, which initiated a related an already pending arbitration against Tantaros more than three months ago. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT Over the last few weeks, 21st Century Fox (Fox News’ parent company) has made clear its commitment to providing a safe and dignified workplace at Fox News: by immediately launching an investigation in which women were encouraged to report their experiences under conditions of confidentiality, and by committing to make things right with those women who were not treated with the respect that they and every employee deserve. But Tantaros is not a victim; she is an opportunist. Tantaros was suspended months ago by Fox News for breaching her Employment Agreement by writing an unauthorized book and is a party to a pending arbitration proceeding before the AAA. After shopping her supposed harassment story directly to the media without much success, she decided simply to ignore her obligation to proceed in arbitration, just as she ignored her other contractual commitments at Fox News, leading to her suspension. Tantaros’s unverified complaint of August 22 in this Court bears all the hallmarks of the “wannabe”: she claims now that she too was victimized by Roger Ailes, when, in fact, contrary to her pleading, she never complained of any such conduct in the course of an investigation months ago. Not to be outdone by anyone, she contends that she was sexually harassed by an ever-shifting