A lawsuit filed by Howard Stern's former personal assistant, Leslie Kuhn, has been dismissed in its entirety by a judge. Kuhn had accused the radio host and his wife, Beth Stern, of presiding over a hostile work environment and alleged that a non-disclosure agreement attributed to her was forged.
Judge Melissa A. Crane dismissed the complaint on Thursday after Kuhn named the Sterns and their company, One Twelve, in the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this year. The ruling cited an email from Kuhn's company account dated May 23, 2025, which stated, "Signed NDA attached," and included a copy of the NDA with her electronic signature.
The judge's decision noted that "something more than a bald assertion of forgery is required to create an issue of fact contesting the authenticity of a signature." Kuhn had claimed that in May 2025, One Twelve used administrative access to her computer to fabricate emails and digitally sign the NDA on her behalf.
Kuhn initially began working for Stern in September 2022 as an office manager and was promoted to executive assistant in January 2024. Her lawsuit, filed in April, sought to invalidate non-disclosure agreements from 2022 and 2025. Kuhn's attorneys had stated in the filing that her employment was never conditioned on entering into such agreements.
According to Kuhn's filing, she was asked by the Sterns in May 2024 to move into their Southampton, New York, compound to manage household staff, schedules, payroll, and general operations. Her role also included involvement in Beth Stern's cat rescue and fostering operations.
Kuhn claimed she was informed in December that she would receive a pay raise to $265,000 and an $80,000 bonus in 2026. She stated she was terminated in February amid claims of a "hostile work environment and enablement of that hostile work environment," citing "immense pressures on the household created by irresponsible and untenable animal rescue and fostering operations occurring on-site, and massively disorganized and questionable business operations and accounting practices."
In an April 29 filing, Stern's legal team characterized the lawsuit as a "thinly veiled attempted shakedown," alleging Kuhn "hatched a plan to extract a staggering 'hush-money' payment" after her dismissal. Stern's lawyer stated at the time, "The Sterns are entitled to enforce nondisclosure agreements signed by employees who enter their home and their private life, and they have filed a motion to address the lawsuit and the conduct of Ms. Kuhn and her lawyer."
The dismissal of Kuhn's lawsuit comes as Howard Stern is set to scale back his SiriusXM show to one new weekly episode upon its return this fall, following his summer vacation.