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Lawyers acting for Jackie “O” Henderson have pushed to keep an October trial date for her $82 million wrongful dismissal claim against her former employers at KIIS FM.
The day after Kyle Sandilands reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with ARN Media, which owns KIIS, Henderson’s barrister Vanja Bulut argued to keep the expedited schedule – despite preparation delays – for what will now be a legal showdown between her client and the media group.
“I see no reason why that October 12 date can’t remain. The number of issues in dispute are reasonably defined,” she told the court.
Tom Blackburn SC, who is acting for ARN, was more cautious about both sides being able to prepare their cases in time to meet the deadline.
“The trial is only four months away, and these things have a habit of getting out of control,” he told the court.
Henderson’s former co-star reached a multimillion-dollar settlement ARN on Wednesday, which sent the media group’s shares into a relief rally. The stock jumped about 24 per cent as investors welcomed the settlement, which was a fraction of the money Sandilands had sought.
ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson declined to comment on Henderson’s case on Wednesday, noting the matter remained ongoing.
ARN will pay Sandilands a $12.09 million cash settlement, with $3 million payable in July and the balance in monthly instalments until June 2029. It will also provide his new venture with an additional $1.5 million worth of advertising services on its partner platforms over three years, while receiving up to 19.9 per cent of any revenue the venture generates for three years. Sandilands is barred from working with ARN’s direct competitors until March 2027.
The settlement amount is far less than the $85 million Sandilands previously sought from the embattled radio network. He and Henderson had been employed on contracts worth $200 million over a decade – the richest media deals in the embattled sector.
ARN terminated Sandilands’ contract in mid-March, following the expiry of a two-week deadline it had set for the controversial broadcaster to fix his “serious misconduct” against Henderson, after the pair had an on-air bust-up in February that reduced her to tears.
Sandilands had defended his action, saying his heated exchanges with Henderson had been “congruent with the style, tone and nature of the show, and the robust character” that ARN desired.
Henderson won on one point against ARN, which agreed to pay the costs of a cross-claim. It related to Sandilands raising in his separate legal action the issue of whether Henderson had breached her service agreement with the media group.
Blackburn argued that the issue “became necessary to pursue” for ARN, hence the cross claim.
“We do press for costs,” Bulut told the court, noting that it was not a material issue relating to Sandilands’ termination.
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