Eckhart v. Fox News Network, LLC
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:20-cv-05593
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Eckhart v. Fox News Network, LLC, Judge Abrams ordered limited depositions and pretrial submissions about witnesses, exhibits, and trial privacy.
Jennifer Eckhart, Ed Henry, Jane Doe 2, and the parties’ witnesses and counsel were affected by the deposition, witness, exhibit, pseudonym, and filing requirements.
What happened
In Eckhart v. Fox News Network, LLC, the court issued directions during the final pretrial conference. It allowed the defendant to depose Jennifer Eckhart about her communications with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and allowed Eckhart to depose the defendant’s sister about the defendant’s honesty.
The court also required letters about proposed witness testimony, whether certain photographs and messages should be publicly shown at trial, and objections to listed exhibits. It directed Eckhart to tell counsel for Jane Doe 2 that Jane Doe 2 must file a motion to testify under a pseudonym.
Judge Ronnie Abrams entered this pretrial and evidence-related order on June 13, 2025. The order did not decide the parties’ underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Eckhart v. Fox News Network, LLC · No. 1:20-cv-05593
- Ronnie Abrams
- June 13, 2025
Nature of the order
This was a final-pretrial order addressing limited discovery, anticipated witness testimony, exhibit objections, and public presentation of evidence. It did not resolve the underlying claims.
Depositions
The court gave the defendant an opportunity to depose Plaintiff Jennifer Eckhart during the weekend following the conference. The deposition was limited to Eckhart’s communications with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as covered by Interrogatories 1, 2, 3, 13, and 20. The court also gave Eckhart an opportunity to depose the defendant’s sister before the sister testified about the defendant’s character for truthfulness.
Required submissions
The defendant had to file a letter by June 14, 2025, explaining the argument that certain Fox News witnesses could testify about Eckhart’s termination to rebut assertions made by her expert. Eckhart could respond by June 15, 2025.
Eckhart had to file a letter by 9:00 a.m. on June 16, 2025, supporting her position that certain photographs or messages should not be publicly displayed at trial. The court directed that argument to address Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110 (2d Cir. 2006).
The court also directed both parties to file letters by 9:00 a.m. on June 16, 2025, answering questions about the intended uses of certain defense exhibits and the parties’ objections to specified plaintiff and defense exhibits. The questions included whether exhibits were hearsay, the purposes for which exhibits would be offered, and whether Federal Rule of Evidence 106 was being invoked to complete exchanges or to exclude incomplete excerpts altogether. Eckhart also had to state whether she planned to introduce Plaintiff’s Exhibit 85 or use it only to refresh a witness’s recollection.
Pseudonym issue
The court ordered Eckhart to inform counsel for Jane Doe 2 that Jane Doe 2 would need to file a motion if she wished to testify under a pseudonym, meaning without publicly using her actual name.
Disposition
Judge Abrams entered the order as directed at the final pretrial conference. The order governed preparation for trial and did not grant or deny a merits motion.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.