Litigation: May 2008 Archives

Hillary Andrews, 38, contends that the cable network's brass turned a blind eye to the harassment because her co-anchor, Bob Stokes, was popular with viewers. 

Andrews won her arbitration case three months ago and the final ruling was "highly critical of conduct by both Stokes and TWC management." The Weather Channel is now seeking to keep details of the arbitrator's report secret, while Andrews wants to publicly file the document in the context of a lawsuit she has now brought against Stokes in state court. 

In her federal court filing seeking to release the arbitration ruling, Andrews reported that "TWC fired Stokes the day after" the arbitration award was issued and is now "understandably eager to assure that the Arbitrator's findings and conclusions never see the light of day."  

Court records show that after her initial hire, Andrews was paired with Stokes, and apparently, she replaced a female "on-camera meteorologist" who had worked with Stokes. Andrews' pleadings contend that the prior anchor was abused daily by Stokes and that she "routinely hid in the women's dressing room in between shifts to avoid contact with him." 

Andrews further contends that that anchorwoman was forced out of The Weather Channel after repeatedly complaining to management about Stokes's harassment. 

Andrews then claims that "history quickly repeated itself". Specifically, Stokes began harassing her. Andrews contends that Stokes' behavior was "worse for [her] than for her predecessors because Stokes was sexually attracted to her and romantically obsessed with her." Stokes, she says, made crude sexual remarks to her, leered at her chest, and followed her into the women's dressing room. He also allegedly questioned her "over and over again, non-stop" about her sex life, and once noted, "It tortures me when you wear those heels and skirt." When she rebuffed his advances, Andrews charged, Stokes's "hostility and volatility became a constant" and he sought to "sabotage" her on-air performance and even resorted to insulting her during live shows. 

Andrews eventually reported Stokes' behavior to The Weather Channel corporate officials and attempted to obtain a reassignment with a new co-anchor. Instead, Andrews alleged, she was relegated to a series of undesirable assignments, including "the overnight shift--the same assignment The Weather Channel had given Andrews's predecessor after she complained about Stokes." 

The Weather Channel's owner, Atlanta-based Landmark Communications, has been accepting bids for the network, which it optimistically values at $5 billion. Sounds like they will need the money.

John M. Hanamirian