Former Fox News White House Correspondent Ed Henry — [Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images].
Henry’s legal team called the disclosures a “reasonable defensive measure” to answer what they described as the “inflammatory” allegations of his accuser Jennifer Eckhart, an ex-associate producer at the network. They emphasized that the images were “redacted” of “all nudity.”
For U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, the controversy came down to a close legal question — but one that ultimately tipped against Henry at this stage of the proceedings.
“Admittedly, this has always presented a difficult question, and Defendant presents some compelling arguments as to why his filing of the intimate photographs of Eckhart on the public docket falls under the statute’s exception for ‘lawful and common practices of . . . legal proceedings,'” Abrams wrote. “Nevertheless, Henry has not provided a proper basis to reconsider this ruling at this time.”
She emphasized that Henry’s legal team can revisit the issue later.
“The Court expects that at a subsequent stage of the case it — and/or a jury — will consider evidence on this point, as well as more robust argument,” the ruling states. (Judge Abrams is the sister of Law&Crime founder Dan Abrams.)
The judge previously advanced the “revenge porn” claims along with a number of other counts of Eckhart’s lawsuit a little more than a year ago. Eckhart claimed that Henry lured her to his hotel room on the false pretense of discussing her career, only to handcuff and rape her once she arrived. Henry denies the allegations, and the judge said that he will have every opportunity to defend himself, “zealously.”
“There is no doubt that the factual allegations in the complaint are inflammatory, and the Court recognizes that Henry vehemently denies them,” Abrams wrote. “He certainly has the right to defend himself publicly — and do so zealously. But the Court has not denied him of that right. It has not, for instance, imposed a gag order, or held that the photographs may not properly be considered at the appropriate time.”
In a footnote, Abrams instructed Henry’s attorneys to seek the court’s permission should he decide to do so.
The sex trafficking count, which is the top charge Eckhart filed, also survived at the time, and Abrams acknowledged that the civil statute is more expansive than it is commonly considered in the public imagination.
“To be sure, this is not a conventional claim of sex trafficking,” the earlier ruling, from Sept. 9, 2021, states. “Eckhart has not alleged, for example, that Henry forced her into prostitution or sexual slavery.”
Henry did, however, notch small victories in his motion to reconsider the earlier ruling. Judge Abrams agreed to dismiss multiple counts characterizing the publication of the photographs as acts of retaliation. Those allegations require an “employment context” or an “ongoing economic relationship,” and Henry was no longer a Fox News host at the time of the litigation.
“At the time of the filing of the photographs, there was no employment relationship — nor any ‘ongoing economic relationship’ —whatsoever between Henry and Eckhart,” the ruling states. “Accordingly, Plaintiff’s claims of retaliation against Henry under both the NYSHRL and the NYCHRL (i.e., the fifth and eighth causes of action against Henry only) are hereby dismissed.”
The abbreviations refer to New York State and New York City Human Rights Law.
An attorney for Henry had no comment. A lawyer for Eckhart did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Read the ruling, below: