- The widow of a Fox News cameraman who died while reporting in a Ukrainian war zone has sued Fox.
- Michelle Ross-Stanton filed a wrongful death and breach of contract suit against Fox in Britain.
- Last year, the family of another member of the Fox News team filed a wrongful death suit against the network.
Pierre Zakrzewski, a cameraman for Fox News, was killed in Ukraine in 2022, and three years later his wife has filed a wrongful death and breach of contract lawsuit against the network.
According to CNN, Zakrzewski died on March 14, 2022, when his team’s vehicle came under fire while they were reporting near Kyiv.
The suit comes after Ross-Stanton raised questions about the circumstances around her husband’s death and later started investigating it herself. Her biggest question was around why the team’s security consultant was not with them while they reported in a dangerous area, per The Washington Post.
Ross-Stanton filed suit against Fox in Britain earlier this month, arguing that her husband was not protected adequately by the network and that the network “did not hold the necessary insurance to be able to fully compensate his family after his death,” according to the Post.
Fox News released a statement to The Washington Post after the lawsuit was filed.
“We remain devastated by the death of Pierre Zakrzewski,” the statement reads. “His extraordinary dedication to telling the stories of the war in Ukraine placed a critical spotlight on the atrocities there and we are forever grateful for his commitment to journalism and his ultimate sacrifice. We did everything humanly possible in the aftermath of this unprecedented tragedy amid the chaos of a war zone.”
Claims made in Ross-Stanton’s suit
The suit makes the argument that Fox is liable for the security consultant’s absence and an inadequate risk assessment before the trip, per The Washington Post.
Ross-Stanton also makes the claim that the vehicle her husband and his team were driving in at the time of the shelling was unarmored. The lawsuit points out that it was unsafe to do in an area so close to Russian forces.
There is also an additional claim that the team did not have geotracking equipment that could have made it more likely for Zakrzewski to have been saved in time.
Zakrzewski had reported in war zones before and Ross-Stanton claims that he was under the impression that the station “had high-limit insurance in place to cover serious injury or death while he was reporting from high-risk conflicts for Fox News,” according to The Washington Post.
If the proper policy had been held, the widow alleges that her family would have received a substantial insurance payment.
Zakrzewski was not the only Fox News team member killed
While in Ukraine, Zakrzewski was accompanied by Oleksandra Kuvshynova, a 24-year-old journalist who was also killed.
In March 2024, Kuvshynova’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Fox News, per NPR.
Last month, Fox News filed to dismiss the case, making the argument that the lawsuit unravels a legal agreement her father signed after her death, per The Washington Post. This agreement provided payments to her family, and Fox claims that the family agreed not to sue the network.