The Kicker
Breaking: Dan Rather Suit Dismissed
By Megan Garber Thu 10 Apr 2008 12:11 PMVia TVNewser:
The judge in Dan Rather’s lawsuit against CBS has issued a motion to dismiss most of the case. CBS News confirms.
Rather—whose long career at CBS News ended in 2006 after he aired an unsubstantiated report about George W. Bush’s National Guard service during the Vietnam war—filed the suit against CBS in September 2007. The suit sought $70 million in damages and in it, according to The New York Times, Rather asserted that
the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on “60 Minutes” after forcing him to step down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005. [It] also [contended] that the network committed fraud by commissioning a “biased” and incomplete investigation of the flawed Guard broadcast and, in the process, “seriously damaged his reputation.”
Rather’s suit also charged, the Times noted, “that CBS and its executives made him ‘a scapegoat’ in an attempt ‘to pacify the White House,’ though the formal complaint presents virtually no direct evidence to that effect.”
Update:
Again, via TVNewser:
TVNewser has learned most of issues of the lawsuit have been dismissed. What remains is the contract dispute: whether Rather was utilized appropriately in the remaining months of his deal as a correspondent on 60 Minutes. Jim Quinn, lead counsel for CBS tells TVNewser, “We’re thrilled with the results. The core of the allegations of fraud and fair dealing have been thrown out. What’s left is a garden variety contract dispute.”
In the meantime, the contract dispute part of the case continues, perhaps for the next several months. “At the end of discovery, we’ll move again for a summary judgment” to dismiss, says Quinn.
CJR
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