TV reporter’s recovery tops $1M with front pay, fees

A Kansas City television reporter who sued her former employer and won on two claims of retaliation will see a total recovery of more than $1 million following a judge’s ruling on front pay and attorneys’ fees.

On June 26, U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips denied Lisa Benson Cooper‘s request to be reinstated to her former position at KSHB, an NBC affiliate owned by Scripps Media, and instead approved $110,000 in front pay. She also approved $691,659 in fees and $31,047 in costs and expenses.

In February, Cooper received a $201,000 jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Cooper, an African American woman, first sued the station and its parent company in 2016, alleging the station discriminated against her by failing to promote her to two positions and instead selected white women with less experience.

She later added two counts of retaliation, alleging Scripps retaliated against her for filing the lawsuit by suspending her and then ultimately declining to renew her contract in 2018.

Cooper asked the court for just over $1 million in attorneys’ fees. Scripps argued that the fees award should be “drastically reduced,” and no more than 11 percent of the amount she sought.

Phillips approved 75 percent of the fees Benson incurred after Scripps declined to renew her contract in 2018 and 25 percent of the fees prior to that date.

The case is Cooper v. KSHB-TV 41 et al., 4:17-cv-41.