Howard Stern Beats Former Executive Assistant’s Lawsuit Looking to Void NDA

Howard Stern Noam Galai/Getty Images

Howard Stern‘s former executive assistant can’t publicize her experiences working for the SiriusXM host and his wife, a court has ruled.

Justice Melissa Crane dismissed a lawsuit from the assistant, Leslie Kuhn, seeking a court order voiding her nondisclosure agreement. Kuhn had accused Stern of fostering a hostile work environment, which was allegedly created by an “irresponsible and untenable” animal rescue organization run by Stern’s wife.

Kuhn was hired by SiriusXM in 2022 as an office manager for The Howard Stern Show. The host’s production company, One Twelve, later added her to its payroll as Stern’s executive assistant. Earlier this year, she was terminated for cause and presented with separation documents stating that she was subject to a 2022 confidentiality agreement and 2025 nondisclosure agreement. She declined to sign, disputing their authenticity and enforceability, and sued in April.

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At the center of the dispute: two separate confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements Kuhn said she never signed. The documents cover the personal affairs of anyone involved with One Twelve, including Stern’s family and friends, plus the host’s daily activities, personal habits and political affiliations, among other things. Kuhn sought a court order declaring the agreements unenforceable so she can respond to “accusations made against her” and “protect her reputation and future employment prospects,” the lawsuit claimed.

In the ruling, the court found the 2025 nondisclosure agreement valid since Kuhn knowingly consented to its terms as part of her employment. When asked to review the document by a One Twelve employee, she wrote in an email “Signed NDA attached.”

The document “identifies Kuhn as a personal assistant, recites that the Company relied upon her promises to safeguard confidential information in its decision to employ her,” Crane wrote in the order issued on July 29, noting that she was paid over $190,000 over a nine-month period.

The court rejected assertions that One Twelve accessed her computer to fabricate the email and forge her signature.

One Twelve’s “ability to administer plaintiff’s computer remotely is not an unusual circumstance as many, if not most, employers can administer their employee’s work devices,” the order stated. “It does not corollate that defendants actually did hack plaintiff’s email and forge her signature on the NDA.”

The court also concluded that Kuhn has “received part of what she wanted” from the case under a guarantee from Stern not to enforce the 2022 confidentiality agreement.

Stern, who didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, had called the lawsuit a shakedown, accusing Kuhn of attempting to extract a hush-money payment from him and his production company. The court turned down his bid to impose sanctions for ignoring evidence undermining her claims, saying there’s no evidence of bad faith.

In the lawsuit, Kuhn claimed she was wrongly accused of misconduct detrimental to her reputation. She said her firing was actually a result of immense pressure caused by an animal foster group operated by Stern’s wife.