Howard and Beth Stern File Motion to Dismiss Former Assistant's Lawsuit

Howard Stern and his wife Beth are pushing back against legal action brought by their former household assistant.

Leslie Kuhn filed suit against the couple last month, claiming she was terminated and worked in a hostile environment. The lawsuit also challenged confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements that Kuhn said were presented to her before and during her termination. Kuhn is seeking court costs and other remedies, and filed an amended complaint requesting the right to speak publicly about her experience.

On Wednesday, April 29, attorneys representing the Sterns submitted a motion to dismiss the case. According to documents reviewed by People magazine, the legal team characterized Kuhn's claim as a "thinly veiled attempted shakedown," alleging that she "hatched a plan to extract a staggering 'hush-money' payment" from her former employers.

The filing goes further, asserting that Kuhn "manufactured a nonexistent 'dispute'" and built her lawsuit "on a series of bald-faced lies." The Sterns' attorneys maintain that Kuhn "indisputably signed" the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements in question and that she subsequently contacted media outlets to generate negative publicity in hopes the Sterns would pay to resolve the matter.

The motion emphasizes that neither Howard nor Beth made negative public statements about Kuhn. "The only reason Kuhn's termination has become public is because she and her counsel chose to file this sensationalized lawsuit announced her termination to the world and then deliberately fanned media attention," the filing states.

The attorneys further argued that Kuhn cannot claim she was silenced when she has not alleged that the Sterns ever disclosed or threatened to disclose information about her. "A plaintiff may not manufacture publicity, claim injury from that publicity and then demand that the Court rescue her from the consequences of her own self-inflicted harm," they wrote.

A representative for the Sterns told Entertainment Weekly: "We are not going to play this out in public. The Sterns are entitled to enforce nondisclosure agreements signed by employees who enter their home and their private life, and they have filed a motion to address the lawsuit and the conduct of Ms. Kuhn and her lawyer."