Lane Sue’s KYW-TV
On July 19th Alycia Lane sued KYW-TV, claiming that the station exploited her, tore her down, and defamed her on her way out the door. Ouch.
Lane is seeking unspecified damagers, the former anchor alleges in a complaint filed in Common Pleas Court that management “turned a blind eye” toward leaks of personal information after she repeatedly voiced concerns about “security breaches” in her private email. She also alleges that management engaged in “deep seated gender discriminatory animus” toward her and other female employees. Wow.
Lane uses the lawsuit to spell out for the first time her side of her downfall at CBS3. She claims that the breaches of her email began in early 2006, when the New York Post reported that she was cozying up to Prince Albert of Monaco.
The lawsuit also tells Lane’s side of the May 2007 scandal after the Post wrote that she was chastised by the wife of the sportcaster Rich Eisen for sending him photos of herself in a bikini.
Besides the station, station manager Michael Colleran and two defendants called John Doe and Jane Doe are named in the filing by her attorney, Paul Rosen of Spector Gadon & Rosen.
Lane’s co-anchor, Larry Mendte, is not a defendant. The complaint alleges that Mendte was “obsessively jealous” of her “growing popularity and success” and resented her higher salary. Her compensation is thought to have been $100,000 above his $700,000 a year, according to station sources.
A KYW-TV spokeswoman said the station had not seen the complaint and had no further immediate comment.
Lane’s suit claims that a statement from Colleran that Mendte read on-air on Jan. 7 killed her career.
It read in part: “After assessing the overall impact of a series of incidents resulting from judgments she has made, we have concluded that it would be impossible for Alycia to continue to report the news as she, herself, has become the focus of so many news stories.” It added, “We understand that Alycia expects to be fully vindicated in that proceeding” in New York.
The suit says the “clear meaning” was that Lane was “now unable to report the news for any news station anywhere in the world.”
Leave a Reply