Jury awards $1.2 million to Robert De Niro’s former assistant in gender discrimination lawsuit

abcnews.go.com:

A jury has awarded over $1.2 million to Robert De Niro's former personal assistant after finding his production company engaged in gender discrimination and retaliation

NEW YORK — A jury awarded more than $1.2 million to Robert De Niro’s former personal assistant Thursday, finding one of his companies responsible for subjecting her to a toxic work environment.

While the jury found De Niro was not personally liable for the abuse, it said his company, Canal Productions, engaged in gender discrimination and retaliation against former assistant Graham Chase Robinson and should make two payments of $632,142 to her.

De Niro, who spent three days at the two-week trial — including two on the witness stand — has been ensnared in dueling lawsuits with Robinson since she quit in April 2019. He was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read aloud Thursday afternoon.

Robinson, 41, smiled as the verdict was being delivered. After the jury left the room, she hugged her lawyers.

Outside the courthouse, she smiled broadly and at other times seemed to be near tears. She did not comment.

Lawyers on both sides claimed victory.

“We're thrilled with the verdict,” Robinson's attorney, Brent Hannafan, said as he stood with his client outside the courthouse. “Couldn’t be happier."

Meanwhile, De Niro attorney Richard Schoenstein called the verdict “a great victory for Mr. De Niro.”

“He is absolved. He is not liable for anything that was charged against him at all,” Schoenstein said. “There's a modest award against the company. But, you know, they were looking for $12 million.”

The lawyer said De Niro's lawyers could try to reduce the award with post-verdict motions to the judge, but he wasn't sure there would be any. He said he didn't know