(New York) A jury ruled Thursday that Robert De Niro’s company should pay more than $1.2 million to the actor’s former personal assistant after finding the production company engaged in discrimination sexual and retaliation.
Although jurors found the actor was not personally responsible for the abuse, they said his company Canal Productions should make two payments of $632,142 to his longtime personal assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, who claimed 12 million initially.
Ms. Robinson, 41, argued at trial that De Niro, 80, and his partner, Tiffany Chen, ganged up on her to turn a job she once loved into an ordeal.
Mr. De Niro and Ms. Chen argued at trial that it was Ms. Robinson who became the problem, when she began demanding more and more from her employer to stay on the job.
The actor, who testified for two days, told jurors that Ms. Robinson’s annual salary had increased from less than $100,000 to $300,000. He also maintained that at her request, he had named her vice-president of production and finance, even though her responsibilities remained essentially the same within the production house.
When she quit, the actor said, Robinson stole about $85,000 in travel points and betrayed his trust.
De Niro acknowledged many of Ms. Robinson’s assertions on the stand. He admitted that he might have told her that her personal trainer was paid more than her in part because he had a family to support.
On the other hand, he denied having shouted at her, saying that everything she tried to corner him with was absurd and that, at most, he had raised his voice in her presence, but never with disrespect. “I was never violent, ever,” he said.
Robinson said she has suffered from anxiety and depression since she quit and has not worked in four years, despite having applied for 638 jobs.
De Niro’s lawyers had filed suit against Ms. Robinson for breach of loyalty and fiduciary duties even before she filed her suit in 2019. They were seeking $6 million in damages, including reimbursement for 5 million travel points. In his closing argument Wednesday, De Niro’s attorney, Richard Schoenstein, said the miles driven were worth about $85,000.