Dan Rather by Marc Bryan-Brown/WireImage.com
Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit against his former employers may still make it to court, but it won't be packing nearly as much punch.
Manhattan judge Ira Gammerman dismissed four of the seven claims made in Rather's lawsuit, particularly those that name Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone (Viacom is CBS' former parent company), CBS president Leslie Moonves and former CBS News president Andrew Heyward. Rather's lawsuit, which was filed in September, claimed that he was treated unfairly by CBS News after a September 2004 broadcast about the military service of President Bush in Vietnam was proven to be flawed. He also claimed his reputation in the final months of his contract was damaged because he was made a "scapegoat" in an effort to appease the Bush administration.
With the dismissal, the suit has now been boiled down to a garden-variety contract dispute. With all of the sensational political accusations and sought punitive damages dismissed, the remainder of the case hinges on whether CBS honored its contractual obligations to Rather (airtime on 60 Minutes) after his departure from the nightly telecast.
Do you think Rather's case had merit, or did the courts get it right? —Adam Bryant
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