Howard Stern Wins Court Battle Over Former Assistant's NDA Challenge

A New York court has ruled against Howard Stern's former executive assistant in her bid to void a nondisclosure agreement that would have allowed her to publicly discuss her time working for the SiriusXM host and his wife.

Justice Melissa Crane dismissed the lawsuit filed by Leslie Kuhn, who had sought a court order declaring her confidentiality agreements unenforceable so she could speak out about her experience on the job.

Kuhn's lawsuit had centered on allegations that Stern fostered a hostile work environment, which she attributed in part to what she described as an "irresponsible and untenable" animal rescue organization operated by Stern's wife.

Kuhn was originally brought on by SiriusXM in 2022 to serve as an office manager for The Howard Stern Show before being added to the payroll of Stern's production company, One Twelve, where she eventually took on the role of his executive assistant.

Earlier this year, Kuhn was terminated for cause and given separation paperwork indicating she was bound by both a 2022 confidentiality agreement and a 2025 nondisclosure agreement. She refused to sign the documents, arguing that their authenticity and enforceability were in question, and filed suit in April seeking to have both agreements thrown out.

The dispute largely hinged on the two confidentiality documents, which Kuhn maintained she never actually signed. Those agreements broadly cover the personal affairs of anyone connected to One Twelve, including Stern's family and friends, along with details about the host's daily routines, personal habits, and political affiliations. Kuhn argued that voiding the agreements was necessary to allow her to respond to accusations made against her and to safeguard her reputation and future job prospects.

In her ruling, Justice Crane found that the 2025 nondisclosure agreement was valid, determining that Kuhn had knowingly agreed to its terms as a condition of her employment. Central to that finding was an email in which Kuhn, responding to a One Twelve employee's request to review the document, wrote that a signed copy was attached.

Crane noted in the July 29 order that the agreement explicitly identifies Kuhn as a personal assistant and states that the company relied on her promises to protect confidential information when deciding to employ her, adding that Kuhn was paid more than $190,000 over nine months during her time there.

The court also rejected Kuhn's claims that One Twelve had improperly accessed her computer to fabricate the email and forge her signature on the agreement. Crane wrote that the company's ability to remotely administer Kuhn's work computer was not unusual, noting that most employers retain that same capability over employee devices, and that such access alone does not support the conclusion that the company actually hacked her email or forged her signature.

Beyond the ruling itself, the court found that Kuhn had already secured part of what she was seeking through a separate guarantee from Stern agreeing not to enforce the earlier 2022 confidentiality agreement, effectively narrowing the practical stakes of her broader legal challenge.

Stern had previously characterized the lawsuit as an attempted shakedown, accusing Kuhn of trying to extract a hush-money payment from him and his production company. Despite that characterization, the court declined Stern's request to impose sanctions against Kuhn for allegedly disregarding evidence that undermined her claims, with Crane stating there was no evidence that Kuhn had acted in bad faith.

For her part, Kuhn maintained throughout the case that she had been wrongly accused of conduct damaging to her reputation, and argued that her termination stemmed not from any wrongdoing on her part but from mounting pressure tied to the animal foster organization run by Stern's wife.