CBS Proclaims 'Total Victory' as Court Dismisses Dan Rather Lawsuit
In a ruling that a CBS spokesman called “a total victory,” a New York appeals court today reversed a trial judge and said former network anchorman Dan Rather’s breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty claims against the network should have been dismissed.
The $70 million case isn’t entirely over, however: Rather’s lawyers intend to appeal, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Rather had contended that he was wrongfully taken off the air in the wake of his controversial news report on former President George W. Bush’s Vietnam-era history of service in the Texas Air National Guard. However, the network paid him even after he was sidelined and eventually fired, which was all its contract with the newsman required CBS to do, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division said. And an employment relationship, it held, does not create a fiduciary relationship.
Rather, 77, now earns about $1.5 million annually at HDNet, reports a Bloomberg article about the decision.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com (Sept. 2008): “Judge Gives Green Light to Some of Dan Rather’s Claims Against CBS”
ABAJournal.com: “Dan Rather Allowed Access to K&L Gates Probe Documents”
New York Times: “Judge Clears Testimony by Redstone in Rather Suit Against CBS”
