Former high-rating radio host Jackie Henderson is pushing ahead with her multimillion-dollar court case against her former employer, despite Kyle Sandilands’ settlement this week.

Neither star was in Federal Court on Thursday as Henderson’s barrister indicated it was all systems go in her client’s high-profile legal dispute over the termination of her record-breaking contract.

“Thank goodness, congratulations – you’ve settled the case with the main player,” Justice Angus Stewart said in reaction to confirmation on Wednesday that Sandilands had reached an agreement with the pair’s former employer, ARN Media.

But Henderson’s case continues. She claims she was unlawfully sacked from her $100 million hosting gig on KIIS FM earlier this year and is expected to give evidence of subsequent damage to her health and wellbeing.

ARN – the owner of KIIS FM – previously told the court that Henderson wrote to the station in February claiming Sandilands had engaged in “persistent and relentless bullying” against her over about six months.

The Kyle and Jackie O Show hosts’ highly public bust-up moved into the legal arena after an exchange between the star pair in February, when Sandilands accused Henderson of being “off with the fairies”.

The on-air comments prompted Henderson to say she could no longer work with her contentious colleague.

ARN claims both hosts are liable for the loss of the company’s key advertising revenue because they breached their contracts and made the future of their breakfast show untenable.

Henderson’s barrister, Vanja Bulut, said the central issue in her legal dispute was determining who at ARN was responsible for deciding to sack her after she said she could no longer work with her controversial co-star.

“We do not know who [ARN] say the decision makers were,” Bulut said.

Henderson’s agent Gemma O’Neill was in court to hear the case would continue.

Henderson and ARN are still working towards a trial set to start on October 12, although the radio company was forced to cover her costs in a cross-claim it has now dropped after Sandilands’ settlement.

Sandilands said on Wednesday night he was relieved to have reached an end to the legal fight with his former employer.

In an ASX announcement on Wednesday, ARN media said it would pay Sandilands $12 million, with $3 million payable as soon as July.
Outside his home later that day, Sandilands said he was relieved to put the ordeal behind him.

“It’s quite daunting to have that hanging over your head,” he said.

“I could have dragged it on for like a year and a half.”

Sandilands said his team was confident of a legal victory had he pressed on. Instead, he hopes to use his free time investing in his next project.

“It means I can get back to work, rather than annoying my wife. I’m just happy to get out of here in the morning and back to work,” he said.

“I’m just building my own platform … I don’t care if it’s hugely successful or it just keeps the people that were retrenched employed.”

That project may be buoyed by the $1.5 million in advertising services on ARN’s partner platforms that he is owed under the settlement.

In exchange, however, the radio network will be entitled to a 19.9 per cent share of any new venture for three years.

Sandilands is also prohibited from engaging with any of ARN’s direct competitors for up to nine months from the settlement date.

“This agreement brings certainty for ARN and resolves the legal dispute,” ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson said.

Both presenters had sought the full payout of the remainder of their 10-year, $100 million contracts signed at the end of 2023.

-AAP