Tony Robbins, Company Settle Employee’s Covid-Based Bias Claims

(Bloomberg Law) -- Lifestyle and business guru Tony Robbins, his company, and his wife settled with an employee who said she was pressed to return to work even after her Covid-19 landed her on a ventilator in the hospital, New York federal court records show.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday approved an agreement among Robbins, Robbins Research International, Sage Robbins, and Despina Kosta to dismiss Kosta's December 2020 lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York state and city anti-bias laws.

The parties “settled all disputes” in the case, according to the order of dismissal signed by Judge Lewis J. Liman.

The case had been sent to arbitration by agreement of the parties on Feb. 8, 2021.

Terms of the settlement weren't included in the court record or shared by the parties.

“Our office is not currently authorized to discuss this matter,” attorney Christopher Reilly told Bloomberg Law Friday in an email. He is with Pettit Kohn Ingrassia Lutz & Dolin PC in San Diego and represented the defendants.

Counsel for Kosta didn't immediately respond Friday to Bloomberg Law's request for details.

Kosta alleged in the suit that she was denied a reasonable accommodation for her disability as she recovered from Covid-19. She worked for Robbins International as a personal results specialist and the company tried to shorten her recovery time, she said.

The accommodations she sought included time off and part-time work, Kosta said.

The suit also accused Tony Robbins of falsely representing that he had saved Kosta's life in a bid for publicity and to impress his followers.

White, Hilferty & Albanese PC represented Kosta.

The case is Kosta v. Robbins Research Int'l, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:20-cv-10880, case dismissed 1/6/22.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Dorrian in Washington at pdorrian@bloomberglaw.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rob Tricchinelli at rtricchinelli@bloomberglaw.com; Steven Patrick at spatrick@bloomberglaw.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.