Court Tosses Dan Rather’s Lawsuit Vs. CBS

News Viacom N.Y. Appellate Court Dismisses $70 Million Suit Alleging Breach of Contract and Fraud L.A. Times Reports...

by CBS/AP

Published: Tue, September 29, 2009 - 1:36 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, September 29, 2009 - 1:38 pm CST

CBS/AP - Dan Rather's $70-million lawsuit against CBS for breach of contract and fraud has been tossed by a New York Supreme Court appellate division, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Tuesday's ruling dismissed the former CBS News anchor's claims he was removed from his anchor post after controversy over a report about President George W. Bush's Vietnam-era military service. Rather claimed that CBS sought to quell the story because of pressure from its then-parent company, Viacom, the newspaper reports.

But the appeals panel found that CBS did not violate the terms of Rather's contract because it continued to pay him, citing the contract's "pay or play" provision, the Times reports.

CBS said it was pleased by the ruling.

"CBS's position on each claim was upheld, as we have said they would be for the past two years," said CBS spokesman Jeff Ballabon. "The court agreed that this has never been anything more than a contract dispute and that Mr. Rather did not and could not plead that there was any breach of his contract."

Rather's attorneys said they plan to appeal, according to the newspaper. "We are extremely disappointed with the Appellate Court's decision," Martin R. Gold, Rather’s lead attorney, said in a statement. "We believe the decision is incorrect on a number of grounds and, accordingly, we intend to ask the New York Court of Appeals to review it."

Rather said the undue influence of the government and large corporations over newsrooms spurred his decision to file the lawsuit in 2007.

"Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big government interference and intimidation in news," Rather said in 2007 on CNN's "Larry King Live."

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