The Real Housewives Of New York City alumna Leah McSweeney has been handed a victory in her legal battle with Bravo.
McSweeney, 42, filed suit against the network last February claiming that she was ‘coerced’ and ‘harassed’ over her alcoholism.
In her legal complaint, she alleged that after she got sober, Bravo attempted to nudge her start drinking again in order to benefit the show.
Last May, Bravo boss Andy Cohen asked a judge to dismiss what he referred to as McSweeney’s ‘threadbare’ allegations, arguing that she was ‘impermissibly’ trying to ‘abridge’ the network’s First Amendment rights.
Now, however, US District Judge Lewis Liman in New York has issued a 100-page ruling allowing McSweeney to proceed with her case.
Although he did dismiss parts of McSweeney’s suit on First Amendment grounds, he is letting her pursue her allegations that Bravo ‘coerced and harassed’ her ‘based on her disabilities,’ such as her drinking problem and panic attacks.
DailyMail.com has contacted Bravo’s parent company NBCUniversal for comment.
The Real Housewives Of New York City alumna Leah McSweeney has been handed a victory in her legal battle with Bravo; pictured on Fox & Friends last April
McSweeney’s allegations focus on her time on season 12 of The Real Housewives Of New York City, which aired in 2020, as well her stint on the spin-off Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip, which was broadcast in 2023.
Judge Liman upheld Bravo’s First Amendment rights to serve their creative vision by preferring to cast Real Housewives who were able to drink.
‘It stands to reason that the producers of a show that, according to the complaint, celebrates drinking, have the right to determine that their vision can be conveyed only by showing actual alcohol consumption,’ he ruled.
‘Casting a person who could act out drinking but imposes limits on her actual drinking would interfere with the producers’ First Amendment rights to deliver an authentic message,’ Judge Liman continued.
However he held that free speech considerations were not reason enough to throw out McSweeney’s claims of a ‘hostile work environment’ ‘based on disability.’
One such accusation is that the producers ‘directly coerced and harassed Plaintiff based on her disabilities, including by making light of her panic attacks and joking about her alcohol use disorder,’ and another is that they ‘tried to undermine her sobriety through harassing comments.’
Bravo will also have to defend itself from McSweeney’s claims that producers ‘joked about Plaintiff’s drinking issues in her presence despite her requests that they stop’ and ‘directed other cast members to bring up Plaintiff’s mental health and substance abuse issues and to call Plaintiff a drug addict,’ among others.
Moreover, McSweeney can still sue over her allegation that producers told her she could go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while filming Ultimate Girls’ Trip, then backpedaled once she arrived in Thailand for the job.
Last May, Bravo boss Andy Cohen asked a judge to dismiss what he referred to as McSweeney’s ‘threadbare’ allegations; the pair are pictured in 2021
Now, however, US District Judge Lewis Liman in New York has issued a 100-page ruling allowing McSweeey to proceed with her case; she is pictured at BravoCon in 2022
McSweeney’s allegations focus on her time on season 12 of The Real Housewives Of New York City, as well her stint on the spin-off Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip (pictured)
Specifically, she asserted that Bravo refused to adjust her shoot schedule so she could go to meetings or to provide her with transportation to them.
Judge Liman made note of McSweeney’s argument that ‘such facilitation would not have caused unreasonable hardship or expense, particularly compared to the cost of alcohol and transportation the production covered for cast members to go to clubs.’
McSweeney alleged further that during Ultimate Girls Trip, Bravo ‘deliberately provided Plaintiff with inadequate food and water in order to trigger her mental health issues and thereby cause her to behave erratically on camera.’
She specifically mentioned a cast lunch at which, she claims, ‘dishes prepared with pork were the only food available, which Defendant Producers knew that Plaintiff could not eat due to her Jewish faith.’
McSweeney’s suit also held that the ‘inadequate food and severe emotional distress’ caused her to lose 7lbs and be ‘hospitalized for severe dehydration and related infections while in Thailand,’ as the latest ruling described her version of events.
In response to this week’s ruling, McSweeney’s attorney Gary Adelman issued a statement saying: ‘We thank the Judge for his care in his 100 page decision that kept the majority of the major claims against the defendants and continues to give full life to Leah’s lawsuit and another step closer to holding the defendants accountable.’
Adelman added: ‘While we disagree with his findings on the minor claims and will certainly be filing an amended complaint to address his questions, this decision is not a scorecard, it was an affirmation that there are serious claims and that they will proceed in Court,’ according to Page Six.
Cohen is pictured at SiriusXM Studios in New York City in October 2023
Last year, Cohen threatened McSweeney with a lawsuit unless she retracted her claim that he used cocaine with other Real Housewives.
In her own lawsuit against Bravo, McSweeney had sensationally accused Cohen of harboring a tendency to ‘provide the Housewives with whom he uses cocaine with more favorable treatment.’
She alleged that he ‘intentionally uses cocaine with his employees to further promote a workplace culture that thrives off drug and alcohol use, which leads to a failure to accommodate employees who are disabled and trying to stay substance free.’
Last March, Cohen’s attorneys wrote a letter denouncing McSweeney’s claims about cocaine as ‘categorically false’ and a bid ‘to get headlines and a quick payday.’
That same month, McSweeney said that ‘the truth’ was ‘on my side’ in her legal battle with Bravo, on the podcast Addiction Talk.
‘As hard as it is to be going up against a very powerful entity, and for people to maybe also just not agree with me or you know, come at me and get blowback and all the things, I don’t care, because this is the truth, you know?’ she defiantly declared.