A jury found Robert De Niro's production company liable for gender discrimination and retaliation after his former assistant accused the actor of abusive behavior.
While De Niro personally was not found liable, Canal Productions must pay Graham Chase Robinson $1.264 million in damages. Robinson was not found liable for any of the accusations in De Niro's lawsuit against her.
"We are delighted that the jury saw what we saw and returned a verdict in Chase Robinson’s favor against Robert De Niro’s company, Canal Productions," David Sandford, Chairman, Sanford Heisler Sharp, told Fox News Digital. "Not only did Ms. Robinson win her case against Canal but the jury completely vindicated Ms. Robinson by finding De Niro’s claims against her to be without merit."
The trial, in which both De Niro and Robinson faced accusations, was heated at times – with the actor apologizing to the judge for one outburst during his testimony.
The jurors were specifically asked to decide if De Niro was liable for gender discrimination and retaliation, according to the verdict form obtained by Fox News Digital. Additionally, the jury was asked to decide if his former assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, was liable for the conversion of the company's Delta SkyMiles and for breach of fiduciary duty along with breach of loyalty against De Niro's company, Canal Productions.
Fox News Digital has reached out for comment from Robert De Niro's representative.
Robinson, who worked for De Niro from 2008 until 2019, and the "Flowers of the Killer Moon" actor were in court over the assistant's lawsuit accusing De Niro of gender discrimination. Robinson alleged the actor repeatedly used "vulgar, inappropriate, and gendered comments" in addition to overworking and underpaying her in the $12 million lawsuit.
Before she filed her 2019 lawsuit, De Niro filed his own. The $6 million suit accused Robinson of improper use of the company credit card, watching TV on company time and stealing frequent-flier miles for personal trips.
In 2022, Robinson came forward to accuse De Niro of retaliation with his 2019 lawsuit. The former assistant alleged she uncovered text messages between De Niro's employees that proved the actor's lawsuit was filed to "humiliate" her, according to court documents previously obtained by Fox News Digital. In one text exchange, a longtime employee of De Niro reportedly said that Robinson "was threatening to sue bob so they wanted to ruin her first."
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Robinson maintained that she was tasked with putting together and decorating De Niros' townhome in 2018 despite being promoted to vice president of production and finance.
The former assistant testified in her deposition that "[m]y job at Productions kind of had been redirected to all of this gender female role where I was handling this housework and vacuuming and doing all of these things. … It had nothing to do with VP production of finance. That was incredibly demeaning and frustrating for me to deal with," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to De Niro's testimony, Robinson was only promoted because she wanted the "title change" and he maintained that her duties as head assistant never changed.
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De Niro was also asked about times he requested Robinson scratch his back, which caused an outburst in the courtroom.
"I don't – she didn't scratch it," he said on the stand. "If she did, I said could you scratch it because I'm over here, one thing, I have an itch. Once. It is so ridiculous. It is every little thing she is trying to get on me. It is like she implies that she is out in front of the building scrubbing the floors on her knees, washing it, and making sure that – this is nonsense. Come on."
When Robinson's lawyers claimed that he asked twice for the assistant to scratch his back, De Niro shot back, "OK. Twice? OK. OK, you got me. I don't even know what you are talking about. I'm sorry, this is nonsense."
He also added, "It never was with any disrespect or lewdness or any kind of weirdness that you are trying to imply. Shame on you, Chase Robinson."
Robinson later insisted the back scratching request had happened. "I had mentioned that there was a back scratcher he could use instead," she testified, according to court transcripts. "He said he preferred the way that I scratched his back."
Tiffany Chen, who gave birth to De Niro's seventh child this year, is also involved in the legal battle. Chen, who shares 6-month-old daughter Gia with De Niro, spoke out about her relationship with Robinson, who she first met in 2018, as she took the stand in Manhattan federal court last week.
"She was very strange from the beginning and always uncomfortable to be around. I was killing her with kindness," the 45-year-old martial arts instructor said, according to court transcripts obtained by Fox News Digital. Chen described Robinson as being "mean-spirited and b----y" while she worked for De Niro. "She was a hot mess. Her schedule was off all the time," she added.
For her part, Robinson’s lawyer, Alexandra Harwin, said De Niro invented claims to "ruin" her client's reputation in a statement previously shared with Fox News Digital.
"It is completely illegal for employers to retaliate against employees who complain about workplace discrimination," Harwin said. "But this is exactly what Robert De Niro did to Ms. Robinson, inventing claims to ruin her reputation and humiliate her because he knew she was going to expose his behavior."
