Sacked news reporter Robert Ovadia has sensationally quit his lawsuit against Channel Seven as the stress on his family takes too heavy a toll.
The decision to abandon his wrongful dismissal suit comes after the Seven Network opened a up ‘dirt file’ claiming multiple women had complained about the TV veteran.
In a statement to Daily Mail , Ovadia’s lawyer John Laxon said: ‘Robert has advised he is discontinuing legal action for personal reasons.
‘While he strongly rejects the allegations of serious misconduct made against him, the emotional and financial toll of proceeding with legal action is something his family can no longer bear.
‘And I entirely understand his position.’
According to the original statement of claim filed in the Federal Court by Ovadia’s barrister, Andrew Gotting, and read out in court, Ovadia claims the incidents he was purportedly terminated for in June do not amount to sexual harassment.
‘No reasonable employer could have formed the view that the conduct amounted to sexual harassment, the photo was not coduct of a sexual nature.’
Seven’s ‘reasons’ for sacking Ovadia included several cartoon images of a female, with a woman staffer’s face superimposed over them, plus a picture of a flaccid penis sent by Ovadia to a male over a story about a man named ‘Mr Dick’.
Ovadia hit back at ‘evil’ Seven Network bosses this week after his own daughter asked him a heartbreaking question in the wake of his sudden sacking.
Sacked reporter Robert Ovadia has sensationally dropped his case against the Seven Network
Seven’s own barrister told the Federal Court last week that ‘even if they (Seven) didn’t have a basis to primarily terminate the applicant’s employment at that time, the conduct that has come to light subsequently does provide a basis.’
In the Federal Court last week, Seven alleged that ’13 more women’ have made complaints against the former star reporter.
Ovadia hit back on social media, posting on Instagram that the devastating allegations had been propaganda cobbled up by ‘evil’ TV bosses.
He said he had received a chilling death threat, and the claim had prompted Ovadia’s teenage daughter to ask her father if people would now think her ‘dad is a rapist’.
On Tuesday, Ovadia, 51, posted that he was now braced for more dirt allegations in the increasingly bitter row.
‘I’ll expect more smear over the coming months as this evil company (in whose service I risked my life and safety many times) now seeks to destroy my reputation further,’ he added.
The death threat, from a man who posts images of guns on his Instagram page, read: ‘Hey ringworm. When do you want to be brutally murdered?’
Sacked Seven reporter Robert Ovadia has received both a death threat and a heartbreaking question
Robert Ovadia branded Seven network ‘evil’ in his post on social media
Ovadia said he had also been flooded with messages of support since Seven filed the new allegations.
The Walkley Award-winning journalist has repeatedly and vehemently denied any wrongdoing or inappropriate conduct on his part during his 23-year career at Seven.
Posting a series of the messages received, he added: ‘Feel free to scroll through a few recent interactions with women I’ve worked with vs Seven’s Propaganda Unit.
‘I can be crass, I can be blunt, I can be obnoxious, my humour is dark – 20 years surrounded by trauma and danger will do all of that to you.
‘But I do NOT mistreat women. At least the Four Corners hatchet job got one thing right – the Seven Network is diabolical.’
Ovadia was sacked in June over two Seven newsroom image exchanges and filed a suit in the Federal Court for wrongful dismissal.
His now abandoned legal claim against the Seven Network and Seven West Media’s news and editor-in-chief, Anthony De Ceglie, was due to have another file management meeting this coming week.
Since last week’s filing, Ovadia posted messages of support he said he’d received.
One female former colleague posted: ‘All the girls I worked alongside with you loved the playfulness … the cheeky big kid side of you, never knowing what we were in for except that (work was) going to be fun and made that little easier though all of us interacting like that!
‘There would be some long depressing nights without it. You’re the furthest thing from a bully or anything of the kind. This is all so incomprehensible.
‘We wouldn’t want you to ever have to feel like you couldn’t be yourself as a result of such ridiculous allegations. It’s incredibly unfair.’
Sacked Seven reporter Robert Ovadia has received a death threat and had his own teenage daughter ask a heartbreaking question in the wake of his sacking
Ovadia’s supporters have emerged since the former veteran reporter filed an unfair dismissal suit against Seven and its boss Anthony de Ceglie (above)
In another comment sent to Ovadia, a male supporter wrote: ‘I place you in the same category as your former colleague Chris Reason in that you are a seasoned professional.
‘I like many others do not believe the stories being circulated about you. Keep up the good fight and may you be victorious.’
When Seven stood down the veteran Sydney reporter, the network said it would conduct an internal investigation into allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’.
Ovadia was initially accused of creating edited photos and a caricature of a female, ‘Person A’, and sending those to that person, an act which did not constitute sexual harassment, his statement of claim to the court said.
Two of the images of cartoon woman representing a colleague – are dismissed by the reporter as just among reporters’ exchanges in the Seven newsroom
The death threat sent to Ovadia from a social media user who has multiple images of weapons, cash and luxury cars on his own Instagram page