Leah McSweeney Stands Firm Against 'Ringmaster' Andy Cohen's Plea to Halt Lawsuit, Intensifies Allegations of 'Discrimination' - lulu

Andy Cohen and Leah McSweeney. Photo: 

Charles Sykes/Bravo/Getty; John Nacion/WireImag

Leah McSweeney has responded to Andy Cohen's motion to pause her ongoing lawsuit against him.

On August 12, the Real Housewives of New York City alum filed to oppose Cohen's motion, which he requested in an August 8 letter. Cohen asked that the New York judge handling the case temporarily stop the process of obtaining evidence until a decision is made on a previous request from him to dismiss McSweeney's lawsuit altogether.

In her response, which was obtained by PEOPLE, McSweeney's attorneys argued that Cohen's motion should be denied as he "failed to...establish good cause," the motion is "premature" and it could lead McSweeney to "be prejudiced."

The response reiterates the claims McSweeney, 41, originally made when she filed the lawsuit in February, alleging discrimination and a lack of a safe working environment for her due to pressures to consume alcohol and other drugs.

Her motion claims that the "dismissal argument" from Cohen and the other defendants – Bravo Media, NBC Universal Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, production company Shed Media US and producers John Paparazzo, Lisa Shannon and Darren Ward – "completely ignores the fact that [her] disability-related claims are premised on [the defendants'] discrimination against [her] throughout the on- and off-camera pendency of her employment."

Cohen, 56, asked a judge to dismiss the RHONY star's lawsuit in May, but her attorney said in a statement to PEOPLE that his motion did not have "merit."

Leah McSweeney, Andy Cohen at "Watch What Happens Live". 

Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

In the August 12 motion, McSweeney further alleges that Cohen and Bravo "continually discriminated against [her] on the basis of her sex/gender" and that the overall "workplace culture is inextricably rooted in misogyny against all female talent."

She also listed a religious-based complaint, as she claimed that Cohen and Bravo "fail[ed] to accommodate [her] religious dietary requirements, but [they] accommodated non-Jewish cast-member's requests for food without doing the same for [her]."

McSweeney's motion to oppose Cohen's request to temporarily pause obtaining evidence relating to the lawsuit also made some specific claims about the Watch What Happens Live host, referring to him as the "ringmaster" of the network. The filing alleged that Cohen's threat to "obtain punitive damages against [her]" in a letter his attorney issued in March was "not only intended to dissuade [her] from pursuing her claims against [him] but also served as a public threat to any other Bravo cast member that deigned to speak out against the ringmaster himself."

In the letter, Cohen's attorney Orin Snyder claimed McSweeney's initial filing was "littered with false, offensive and defamatory statements," calling "virtually every" allegation she made "categorically false."

The letter also included a "demand" that the RHONY star "issue an immediate public retraction and apologize" to Cohen.

Source : people.com