The alleged attack, which Corn always denied, could have been tried in court if Crawford adequately claimed that Corn had created a hostile work environment. But Jaffe found that while some of Corn’s alleged behaviors were “inappropriate, ill-intentioned and inappropriate,” he did not go so far as to say that he had cultivated a hostile work environment before the end of the restriction period. Meredith Cavallaro, a lawyer representing Corn, said in a statement: “We are very pleased that the Court has recognized the complete lack of value of the allegations made against Mr Corn.” Milt Williams, a lawyer representing Crawford, said they planned to appeal. ABC News had previously stated that it disputed some of the allegations in the lawsuit. A company spokesman, however, did not comment on the rejection of the case against Corn. However, Kim Godwin, president of ABC News, addressed the issue during the company’s editorial meeting Thursday morning, according to two employees who were on the phone. Godwin reiterated to staff its commitment to implementing a healthy culture in the company, people said. “We remain committed to changing the culture here,” Godwin was quoted as saying by one of the people. Godwin took over as president of ABC News after Corn had already left the company. Corn, who now serves as head of news for NewsNation, left ABC News in early 2021, months before the lawsuit was filed. When the lawsuit was made public, ABC News employees were angry, confused and demanding answers. Employees, for example, wondered what the management of ABC News knew when Corn mysteriously left the news agency. ABC News later said in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that it fired Corn after investigating allegations of assault against him. Correction: An earlier version of this story was misidentified when Kim Godwin was named president of ABC News in connection with Corn’s departure. It was the day before.
