Howard Stern Calls Beth Stern Lawsuit a Shakedown in Court Filing
beth stern is now in the center of a Manhattan court fight after Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky Stern moved to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former assistant Leslie Kuhn. In a Wednesday filing in New York State Supreme Court, they called the case a “thinly veiled attempted shakedown.”
Kuhn filed the suit on April 5 against Howard Stern, Beth Ostrosky Stern, One Twelve Inc. and Howard Stern Production Co. She said she was fired as a result of “among other things, a hostile work environment and enablement of that hostile work environment,” and she also sought to void confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements dated May 10, 2022, and May 23, 2025.
Manhattan Filing
The Stern parties said Kuhn had hatched a plan to extract “a staggering ‘hush-money’ payment” from Stern, Ostrosky Stern and their related companies. Their memorandum also argued that the lawsuit “is based on a complete fabrication,” and said Kuhn signed the 2022 confidentiality agreement twice, first electronically in May and then again with a wet ink signature in September 2022.
That dispute keeps the fight centered on the papers themselves: whether the agreements were valid, whether Kuhn signed them and whether the case can move forward in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. For a public figure with a long-running show business operation behind him, the filing is less about noise than leverage.
Leslie Kuhn and John Leonard
Kuhn’s attorney, John Leonard, said his client would “vigorously oppose” the Wednesday court filing. He also said the submission of the September 2022 agreement would “only going to extend litigation,” which suggests the fight is likely to turn on document timing and signature disputes before anyone gets close to the merits of the hostile-work-environment claims.
The memorandum attached an April 2 email from an attorney representing the Stern parties that said “our clients have no intention of discussing your client, the terms of her employment or termination, and will simply give a neutral reference if asked.”
For readers tracking the case, the immediate question is not theater but proof: the parties are now battling over whether Kuhn signed the paperwork she says was fraudulent, and whether the court treats the lawsuit as a labor dispute or a pressure campaign. The filing puts the Stern side on the offensive, and it makes the document trail the whole story.
