For the previous few years, Robert De Niro and Graham Chase Robinson have been locked in a authorized dispute after the actor claimed in a 2019 lawsuit that his former assistant had misused firm funds for her personal functions. Robinson rapidly responded with a lawsuit alleging that her boss had harassed and discriminated towards her on the idea of gender.
The matter got here to a head in a Manhattan federal court docket over the previous two weeks, with every occasion testifying in regards to the different’s work habits and temperament. The civil trial addressed each lawsuits. On Thursday, in response to The New York Instances, a jury discovered neither De Niro nor Robinson personally chargeable for the opposite’s claims, however dominated that Canal Productions, the actor’s firm, was chargeable for gender discrimination and retaliation. Robinson was awarded $1.26 million. “Not solely did Ms. Robinson win her case towards Canal,” David Sanford, a lawyer for Robinson, mentioned in a press release, “however the jury fully vindicated Ms. Robinson by discovering De Niro’s claims towards her to be with out advantage.”
In the course of the trial, Robinson testified that De Niro had given her “stereotypically feminine” work round his home. She additionally mentioned {that a} dispute between her and De Niro’s girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, finally led to her resignation from Canal Productions. One among De Niro’s attorneys, Richard C. Schoenstein, mentioned exterior the courtroom that “Mr. De Niro has been exonerated” in gentle of the jury not discovering him personally at fault.
“I’ve been so humiliated and embarrassed, and I really feel so judged,” Robinson testified. “I really feel simply so broken, in a manner.”
De Niro made headlines through the trial for his irritated testimony. “You bought me!” he exploded at one level, after acknowledging that he had requested Robinson to scratch his again on two events when he couldn’t attain an itch. “It was by no means accomplished with any disrespect.”
Robinson understood the interactions in a different way, describing the interactions throughout her testimony as “creepy” and “disgusting.”
