The parent company of Fox News in July refused a lawyer's unusual request to pay out a lump sum of $60 million to settle lawsuits with more than 20 current and former employees, The New York Times reported.
Attorney for the plaintiffs, Douglas Wigdor, proposed the sum and that he be allowed to distribute the $60 million across his stable of clients, all of whom he represents against Fox News and 21st Century Fox, the Times reported.
After the company refused Wigdor's proposal during mediation, the lawyer has since gone public in attempts to strong-arm the company into paying.
Last week Wigdor went public with a lawsuit that centered on Fox News' stories about the death of former Democratic National Committee official Seth Rich, accusing the network of scheming with the White House to knowingly push a false narrative about a motive for his death.
Then this week, Wigdor made an announcement in an attempt to rattle the cages of 21st Century Fox's $15 billion pursuit of Sky, having sent a letter outlining the company's indiscretions to the British authority in charge of reviewing the bid, the Times reported.
Rupert Murdoch has previously been given a rating of "fit and proper" to hold broadcasting licenses in Britain.
Wigdor's proposal of $60 million during mediation appears to be intentional; Fox News paid its late chairman Roger Ailes $40 million and Bill O'Reilly $25 million in the wake of their terminations over sexual harassment allegations.
"Outside the context of the mediation, any amount under what Ailes and O’Reilly got in total would be unjust," Wigdor told the Times.
Fox News also doled out $20 million to former host Gretchen Carlson, whose lawsuit against Ailes started this chain of events at the network.
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