Rather Slaps CBS With $70M Suit

It’s been 15 months since Dan Rather’s former host network forced him out of the top spot on the “CBS Evening News,” and now he’s giving his erstwhile employer a number of strong reasons why he thinks that was no way to treat an anchor—70 million reasons, to be precise.

The New York Times:

Mr. Rather, 75, asserts 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. He also contends 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.”

The suit, which seeks $70 million in damages, names as defendants CBS and its chief executive, Leslie Moonves; Viacom and its executive chairman, Sumner Redstone; and Andrew Heyward, the former president of CBS News.

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AP Photo / Suzanne Plunkett

Back in the day: Rather on the CBS set in 2001.