Jury awards $1.2 million to Robert De Niro’s former assistant

NEW YORK

A jury awarded more than $1.2 million to Robert De Niro’s former personal assistant on Nov. 9, 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.

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 if there would be an appeal.

Robinson had testified that De Niro, 80, and his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, teamed up against her to turn a job she once loved into a nightmare.

She accused him of unwanted physical contact and making sexually charged comments.

De Niro and Chen each testified that Robinson became the problem when her aspirations to move beyond Canal Productions, the De Niro company that employed her, led her to make escalating demands to remain on the job.

When she quit, De Niro said, Robinson stole about $85,000 in airline miles from him, betrayed his trust and violated his unwritten rules to use common sense and always do the right thing.